Prince Of War
by Suavesky
Summary: They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. So how far does a hop get you? This is the story of Uzumaki Naruto, abandoned by family and disregarded by everyone else. Tired of being used. Now he holds all the cards.
1. Guilt

"Speech"

_'Thought_

Flashback **(())**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

An annoyed sigh slid past his lips. The old man's eyes glanced around the small clearing. Focusing his attention finally on one of the only people for the next five miles. Or at least he really hoped that to be the case. But knowing his luck it was most likely not to be. Someone else would know or at the very least would find out soon.

_We can't have this. Not now. Not with everything going around._

He couldn't in all honesty blame anyone other then himself though. He knew this day would come. And what would come of it could ony be called his own fault. If he had said something before hand to the boy at least things would not be so hard. But now as it was he would have to do a lot of explaining.

"So what do we do?"

The old village leader didn't answer verbally. Instead he began to move towards the blond boy. Side stepping the glittering spires with ease. It was really a remarkable sight. Towering spears the colors of the rainbow had tore through the ground. The failing sunlight dancing in their reflection. It was a moment that Sarutobi would always remember. But he couldn't stop to stare now. Too much work to do in too little time.

"This won't turn out good sensei. No matter how much we try to hide it."

Sarutobi snorted as he approached the downed gennin. "Don't you think I know that? But it can't be helped at this point."

Jiraiya of the sannin shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think anyone else was around when it happened. But we have to assume that others know." A pause as something occured to him. "_Does_ anyone else know?"

"My former teammates." Sarutobi answered as he bent down and moved his hand to check the boy's pulse. "And a few more trustworthy ANBU who reported it originally. I can trust them well enough to keep it a secret considering they've done it up to this point." He smiled wryly. "Why do you think those two put up with Naruto's foolishness for so long?"

The sannin frowned. "I would have thought those two the worst to know. How did you keep them under control?"

The old Hokage turned his head and shot his old pupil a frown. "Contrary to your believe Jiraiya my teammates are not heartless monsters. They only do what they think is best for the village, the same can be said for Danzou. They understand that the burden Naruto bears is large enough as it is. Putting him in the spotlight or breeding programs would have caused unwanted questions. And it wouldn't be long before that information spreads out to other villages. What do you think would have happened then?"

The sannin's frown deepened. He didn't have to think hard. Obviously they would begin to pry. Which would lead them to the facts that Konoha wanted to keep the most quiet. Eventually they would all be unraveled. Naruto would be ousted easy enough as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Then they would inquire as to his ancestry. Which would get him in deep shit with earth and lightning. Everyone would want him. The only choices though would be kidnapping and assassination. He would be too loyal to even consider betraying Konoha.

All in all it would not be pretty.

"What are we going to do?" The sannin inquired. Obviously at a lost. "A seal?"

"No!" Sarutobi responded quickly as he rose. "I've already sealed him once. This ability surfaced earlier in his life... When he was emotionally distressed. He doesn't remember, far too young, but I don't want to even begin to think of doing it to him again. Besides, we can't if he was supposedly screaming bloody murder. "

"Why didn't you say something to me before?" Jiraiya began to argue. "Why would you keep something like that under wraps for so long?"

"For the same reason I keeped the Kyuubi a secret." Puffing on his newly lighted pipe with his back still turned. "To keep him safe."

The sannin opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. He could find no fault with that. Naruto needed all the protection he could get.

"Well there are some positives. When he first showed this talent it had been more then surprising to say the least. The last I believe to have it was Kushina's grandfather. He was ancient when I saw him. But I do have a good idea of some of the techniques he used. Saw a few of them. It is really useful. It would most certainly be one of the more powerful ones had it been more constant." Sarutobi nodded absentmindedly.

"If anything this will help him greatly if he can keep it under wraps enough. But this is Naruto were talking about." Jiraiya started with a frown. "In the mean time it changes things quite a bit. His chakra's violent reaction has opened up a new can of worms to say the least. And it completely changes the way I had planned to do things."

"I'll train him."

Jiraiya blinked. Surprised. The words had been said so quickly and at the same time so resolutely.

"I'm sorry? Come again sensei?" He had to make sure he heard that correctly.

Sarutobi finally turned to his former student. Eyes full of conviction.

"For too long I've held Naruto back from his potential. Held him from the truth. Not anymore. I am getting old Jiraiya. I am no longer a kage in terms of strength. But I am a teacher. You a primary example." He pulled his pipe from his mouth. "So here's what well do. I'll take over his training for the exam. There's still a month and half left to teach him from here on out. You, and my teammates, will help... He will be the future protector of Konoha just as he always wanted. Just like his father wanted."

Jiraiya's face became grave. "What are you talking about sensei? You have a village to run!"

The old Hokage shook his head again. "Not anymore. My time is almost done. I have only a few years left. If worst comes to worst Kakashi can take over for me. But for right now, while I have the chance and the ability to still move, I want to begin to train my successor. Just like my sensei did for me."

"Your successor?" Jiraiya asked incredulous? "Do you really believe he can do it?"

The Hokage snorted. "You've known him for two weeks now. Do you doubt?"

To this the sannin could say nothing. The boy was more than a little rough around the edges but the talent was there in spades. He was a mess in terms of the fundamentals but made up for it with his unpredictable nature and sheer determination.

The boy had the natural talent to be sure. It was the skill and experince he needed.

"It will take time, maybe more then I have left, but I will at least see him on his way. You have seen the amount of potential he has. He needs no kekkei genkai or bijuu. His determination and drive alone can push him to the top."

Jiraiya smiled. "He's a lot like her in that way." Another pause. "Does he know of her?"

Sarutobi immediately shook his head. "No, too young to remember her. Another grave mistake of mine. But again for his protection. Just think of the fall out around the village if they found out he was related to the killer of our last Daimyou."

Again. No thinking necessary. They would have skinned him alive.

"Another knock... Kid is going to flip."

"Correct. Which is why you have to place an overlapping seal in place."

"It's actually already done. I wanted him to grow first on his own power. This came about because the seal I placed limited the Kyuubi's chakra and forced his out more. Then I taught him water walking, he got it. His chakra control when the seal is released will be great improved. From there I moved to work on his natures... That's when it happened."

The Hokage replaced his pipe. "I suppose that's when things went south per say."

"Of course. Wind, earth,... and water."

"Three?" The Hokage asked with genuine surprise as his eyebrow rose up. Three? He had three. But he considered himself the only one. Every other shinobi he had met only had two at the most. Bit then again it did make sense. This release was rare and it would explain the need to have three chakra natures before you could even use it. "And your worried if he has the potential."

"Didn't say that." Jiraiya protested. "I question his maturity."

"Which will come in time. I will make sure of it. Afterall you were a handful as well." The Hokage began to weave around the crystals again as he stepped back to the sannin. "His chakra is spent. Which means he be out until tomorrow at least. We have to move quickly to turn this in our favor. I'm going to take Naruto with me and find my teammates. You get rid of the evidence... If you know how."

"Yes. I saw it, lighting, wind, and fire nature chakra can tear them down if I hit them hard enough. Or I can just use the pure chakra nature of the Rasengan to break them apart."

"Good. I'll inform them of the plan and then I'll tell him. From there it's up to me to work at him. I'll start with working on jutsu befitting his nature. You'll work on what techniques you do know regarding this release. They will be impersonating me to keep everything as quiet as it can be."

"Alright then... This is going to be tricky to pull off."

"Yes. But not impossible. Hurry now."

"Yes sensei."

* * *

"Shit!"

A grin accompanied the hiss of words. His left hand reaching out and firmly grasping his right wrist in an attempt to apply pressure and stem the flow of blood. His middle finger had been broken in two places, his ringer finger tilted sideways, and he was missing his thumb. Hand now in ruins. It would have been a grave and serious injury, career ending in fact, for anyone. That is anyone except for him. It was one of the few positives his unique situation brought him.

His teeth snapped together as he fell back on to his behind and leaned his back against a free tree. Closing his eyes and forcing himself to think of something other then the pain ripping through his arm right now. It was his own fault really. What reason did he have to really push this hard? After all he really had no real intention of continuing on his path of a shinobi. For what reason did he have to push himself to such harsh extremes? Especially when he knew it would only lead him to more failure.

_Because it's the only way you'll ever get any answers Naruto._

The grin faltered for half a second before it completely feel apart. A pain filled sigh racked his body. It wasn't physical though. It was mental. Emotional. Naruto, age twelve, was so so tired of living. Of life in general. He had liked to think of himself as a good person with good morals. He didn't like causing people harm. And he didn't think his dreams and aspirations where anything to laugh at. Or at least he didn't used to... But now... Was kami laughing at him right now? Was his life just one big joke? Just a big fucking sitcom? It had to be. It was the only explanation that he could think of.

No use in feeling sorry for yourself though. He had learned a long, long time ago that crying would not fix your problems for you. Or at least not for him. There were no fixing his problems. Only adding to them.

_You really are a pathetic sort aren't you?_

A bitter smile broke out over the thought. The pain in his hand now a dull ache. It would be completely healed by tomorrow. That had been assured by the fox demon the moment the injury had occured if the sudden twinge in his stomach was anything to go by. An increase in the amount of chakra that the seal let through had been an unwanted side effect of the seal work done by the toad sannin. He couldn't blame the man though. He was trying to help prevent something awful from occurring thanks to his old traitor teammate.

Still. Would it have been so bad? He found himself questioning as he leaned his head back against the tree bark and closed his eyes. Letting it all end here? Fade away-

"Why do you do this to yourself?"

The training grounds in the village hidden within the leaves were unique in the way they were made. Terrains usually varied but at the same time were suitable for all sources of training. With that in mind people rarely ever ventured too far away from the center of the village when looking for somewhere to train. But unfortunately for Sarutobi Hiruzen the boy he had tracked this far wasn't most people. And for that reason he found himself far from his home on this chilly fall night.

His old tired eyes looked on to the form of the small child sitting in front of him. Chest heaving ever so slightly to show how the physical exercises had taken it's toll on his usually god like stamina reserves.

One eye opened and regarded the short man with a pensive look before snapping back shut. Shooting the Hokage a devilish grin the boy leaned backwards and flopped on to the ground.

"Why not push my self? Should I really be concerned?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned. Unable to fully impede the sudden flash of annoyance that rushed through his body at the casual response. But he could not deny that it was true. It was useless to do so anyway and useless to get upset by it. Irrational even. He should have expected that exact response from the moment he opened his mouth to voice the question.

"Do you hate me Naruto?"

"I'm nearly overflowing with hatred."

Sarutobi jumped in surprise despite how soft the words had been spoken. Turning his eyes to the blond laying before him. The emotion behind each letter flowed from the blond and in to him. Deep within his pores and spreading through his entire being. He could almost feel that same emotion in his veins.

"Not with someone or something in particular though." Naruto continued just as softly. "And most certainly not at myself. Not anymore at least. But rather with the whole of our existence."

The Sandaime Hokage could not prevent himself from inhaling deeply from his pipe. A reaction that served as a sign to his comfort levels. A little tick that was bad for ninja to have. One that only seemed to surface around this particular boy. He unconsciously pulled his ceremonial robes even tighter to his body in an attempt to ward off the sudden chill. Despite there being no wind.

"I see." He muttered around his pipe. One blue eye snapped open again despite the fact that it could not see the old man standing near the base of the feet. The other joining it as the blond gave a noise of disapproval.

"No. I don't think you do. In fact I know you don't." The boy contradicted. "This isn't just a great disgust or high dislike for life in general. No, this is full blown hatred. I hate this existence. Or rather the lack of my own. The way the world seems to disregard me entirely. This is a legitimate hatred."

To this Sarutobi could not respond. Closing his tired and weary eyes in an attempt to shake of his budding headache. A tired and long sigh escaped him. One of pity for the boy who laid before him. No one, especially not this child, deserved to be so worn down. To be so old and feel so tired despite the fact that he was so young. And yet he would never let it show for the fear that the boy would take it wrong. Naruto was far too strong for pity. Far stronger then he could ever be.

"Let me ask you something Naruto." Pulling his pipe free from his lips. He paused until he was sure he had the boy's attention. "Do you hate some more then others?"

The in question snorted. "Of course I do. Or I be nothing more then a damn monster like they always said I was. Unable to determine what exactly started this cycle. What a sad thing that would be." A brittle smile. "At that point I'd just be giving in to them huh? A monster. A product of my environment. I never want that damn thing to happen."

Sarutobi nodded. "And who in particular do you hate more?"

"Do you honestly need me to answer that question?"

No. Of course not. Because I already know.

"I'm sure you never wished you were just an orphan." Naruto began. "But then again I don't know your situation growing up."

_Nothing like your's I assure you._

"But I do. I wish it all the time now. I would rather have all my family dead. Or have all my family be ignorant of my life. Hell, I'd think I'd be better off just wondering. But to have family and for them to not even look at you. For them to treat you like these other ignorant people..."

Sarutobi resisted the urge to protest that. To say he believed in him. Because he could not in all honesty say that he never entertained the idea that Naruto would be something other then what the Yondaime Hokage had said. Not without disrespecting both of them. And he had come to respected both of them far too much for that.

An echo of words spoken what seemed so long ago by this very boy rang out in his head. Bringing new light to how wise the boy had always been.

_"There's no worse pain in the world then to have something for the first time in your life. Only for it to be let go. And then finding out that you have family out there. Just as you always wanted. But for them to not even acknowledge your existence..."_

It was the only time Sarutobi had ever even considered Naruto broken. But to his credit the boy had just managed to keep going. He would have surely faltered long ago.

The boy was in sudden movement. Pulling his legs up until his knees met his chest before sliding his hands back behind his head and pushing himself in to a half flip. Catching himself on to his feet and turning his back to the old Hokage. Sarutobi looked away to the sky as the blond dusted off his orange jumpsuit. A mockery. Good ninja didn't wear bright colors. Only legends did.

If your good enough to kill me. Then so be it.

He knew this symbol would be universal some day.

"See ya around old man. Got a lot to do tomorrow."

Sarutobi gave him a nod of agreement as he looked off in to the night sky. For some reason the moon always shined brighter on this particular training ground. Looking like a big diamond in the sky. And in his mind's eye he could remember as it reflected off her eyes-

"Hey old man." He turned his head to the blond. Naruto had stopped walking but had not turned his head to meet his gaze. "Do you think it's okay to want to die?"

If he was disturbed or surprised by the question he did not show it. Instead taking another puff of his pipe.

"Yes. No one should ever wish for death. And for doing so they are a coward. No one ever has an excuse for it."

A weak grin.

"Except you Naruto."

He could tell that was exactly what the boy wanted to hear.

* * *

"You really are a dumb ass huh?"

The blond boy cracked open one eye and raised it up the tree. Speak of the devil. The toad sannin, self proclaimed super pervert, was staring down at him. Looking none to happy. Whatever it was Naruto didn't seem to think he could bring himself to care anymore.

"Your better then this kid."

He couldn't stop the snort that escaped him. "How would you know? We've only just met right?"

"I've seen enough in these two weeks. I've seen what you've been like before kid. And this isn't you. Or at least it didn't used to be." The boy could practically hear the disappointment in the man's voice. Not that he cared any way. It didn't matter what the old ninja thought. He was done looking for the approval of others.

Jiraiya took his silence with a frown and dropped down without a sound on to the ground in front of him. Naruto regarded him with a one eyed look for a second before closing it again. Relishing the brief moment of silence. Unfortunately for him it didn't last long enough.

"Look kid. I can understand where your coming from. I'll never fully comprehend but I can gain a good view." Naruto met his words with a disbelieving snort. "But I'll be damned if I let you sit around a wallow in your sorrow. Your father wouldn't like for you to-"

"I don't give a damn!"

The words had been a near shout and had been spoken with so much venom in them that he was surprised himself. Jiraiya physically stepped back and flinched at the sudden explosion. Looking at him with a glare before finally sighing and closing his eyes.

"I don't give a damn about him. Or what he wanted. I don't give a damn about anyone else. Just like they don't about me. I'm tired of being the good guy. I'm tired of always being the cheerful idiot. I'm tired of being too obtuse to see past what's really happening. Tired of acting like I don't understand. I'm done with it. Don't speak to me about him or his family. Or the a woman who gave birth to me. And most certainly don't speak to me abou-"

The words caught themselves in his throat and he nearly chocked himself on the emotion. Bowing his head to the ground and hiding his eyes from view behind his bangs. He would not cry. Not anymore. He was done. Done with being sad. Done with being happy. Done with being mad.

But Jiraiya wasn't.

"Look kid. I don't know what to say. But I know you shouldn't be mopping around like this. You haven't been to training in days."

"And I don't plan to go." Naruto muttered. "I'm done with being a ninja."

"After all the talk? About trying to be Hokage?" Jiraiya snorted. "That's crap because you want to be out here training right now. You said you want to be a legend. What's changed now?"

"That was before your old teammate showed me how useless it all was. No matter what I do those people will never respect me. Not even my own blood does."

A surge of anger ran through the old shinobi and he could not help the snarl that ripped through his mouth.

"Then make them respect you! Make me respect you! Because I've lost it all! Show everyone you aren't one to be trifled with..." His face falling and expression growing pensive. "Show them by proving them wrong. They deemed you as insignificant. A useless tool. People have used you up and thrown you away before. Now it's your turn for pay back... Getting even."

To this the blond did look up. Giving Jiraiya a skeptical look. "Forgive me for finding it hard to figure out what your talking about."

"Like you haven't thought about it. A deal then? You get off your ass. Train hard. Get strong like we both know you can. And not with the fox demon. I mean on your own strength. If you strong enough you can make it on your own. And in return I'll put everything else in to second place to concentrate on finding the answers you seek. I'll find everyone that made you feel this way. And then you can beat the answers out of them. It'll be my top priority. Even over what the Hokage wants me to look for."

The skeptical look had turned to one of pure disbelief now. It was too convienient. Too easy.

"And what do you want in return?"

"I just get the satisfaction of seeing their faces when they realize how wrong they've been."

"Do you really think I can?"

"Of course. The real question you need to ask is to yourself. Are you willing to put in the effort to have what you want the most? To reach your goals?"

His goals?

_Yeah. Your goals. Your new goals... Do you really want it?_

He didn't need to answer.

* * *

"Get up."

Those two words had been said with such command that the body could not help but follow. Or at the very least try. Unfortunately Naruto's body had pretty much been spent now. Still he managed, after an extra minute or so, to push himself to his feet, swaying for a second as he fought for balance. The old Hokage frowned at the display but made no move to help the young boy. He had choosen to continue when he had been given the option to rest. It was the boy's own fault for trying to work himself in to the ground.

"That was a pathetic attempt." He continued to comment. "If anything your technique regressed with that last one."

Naruto grinned weakly and shrugged.

"Unacceptable. Try it again."

Three hand seals later and the boy was trying to fill his lungs with as much air as he could. Focusing his slowly dwindling chakra around the sacks of air before expelling it as quickly as he could.

_Fuuton: Renkuudan!_

The Hokage watched impassively as the ball of condensed air exploded from the boy's mouth. It fired along the projected line towards one of the the training post and collided with the wood. A grim satisfaction feeling him as he watched the wooden post become half a cloud of saw dust under the force of the ninjutsu.

Acceptable for now.

"That was the best one so far." The Hokage commented, dressed in his own battle uniform for this occasion. "It didn't lose form until it reached the target and did a suitable amount of damage."

The blond didn't reply. Hands on his knees as he struggled to fill his lungs with needed air after forcefully expelling it.

"It will take time to manage the ninjutsu without adverse side effects like the one your experiencing. But it also comes with extra benefits. Such as expanded lungs. If anything the human body under uses it's potential. We don't use all our brain power and limit our physical abilities. Examples of this are seen under times of pressure. You do things that you were never before capable of because of the force of your will. You make your body step up to the challenge and because of it your abilities rise to the occasion. This is the idea behind the gates."

Naruto again said nothing. Simply nodding his head as he returned to upright position with his hands on his hips.

To tell the truth the Hokage was more then a little surprised by how attentive the boy was. He had expected one of two things. The first being the usual hyperactive and squirming young man people had come to know Naruto as, unwilling to sit and listen for directions. The second, and thought to be more likely, was a scowling and moody boy who did only what was necessary with little to no real effort, angered by the betrayal that had been set upon him. To his pleasant surprise he received neither. Instead he was met with a boy who did everything to the fullest. Who did intake everything he wanted to say and put it in to practice on his next attempt. A boy who easily withheld the information and theory he was speaking of. It was a little frightening to be truthful.

Had he always been capable of this? Had he, the person who claimed to only want the best for him, overlooked him like everyone else did?

The answer was a painful as it was obvious. He had. He had also painted Naruto in the light that he would struggle as a ninja. Not because of the way the boy acted. But because he had just originally assumed the boy had only average potential. How stupid that had been in hindsight. This was the only child of the Yondaime Hokage. Greatness was in his blood. Power and potential were his birth right. How many times had someone just sat down and began to work with him? How many times had someone taken the time to put aside their misconceptions enough to offer him individual training like they no doubt did for everyone else. Had Kakashi even considered taking Naruto on for some one on one work like he had jumped to do with Sasuke?

Of course not. And because of it Naruto had been unable to grow.

Mountains of wasted potential.

No more.

"Can you go again?"

A nod and his hands clapped together to begin seals.

Sarutobi could not stop the grin that slid in to place even if he wanted to try.

* * *

"What I want you to do is actual very difficult."

Naruto frowned as he listened. Enhaling deeply as he struggled to catch his breath after another grueling training session. The old Hokage leaned casually against a nearby tree as he observed his newest pupil. It had been two weeks since they had began to train and Sarutobi was more then a little impressed. The boy had always struggled through school work and didn't take well to verbal instruction. But when you actual showed him with movement and examples things seeped in at an alarming rate.

Once Sarutobi had learned that the boy was more a kinesthetic learner the way to his brain opened like the petals of a flower. The man had quickly learned that the best way to show the boy how to do something was to show him before beating it in to him.

It was working perfectly.

"As Jiraiya no doubt told you jutsu can usually be broken down in to two different types of techniques. Nature manipulation and shape manipulation. One uses pure chakra and the other changes chakra to match a certain element type."

"Like fire and water ninjutsu." The blond commented as he followed along with the old shinobi. "And things like kawamari fall under the manipulation category."

Sarutobi nodded. "Correct." It showed that he had indeed been listening. His biggest problem. "In order to make or truly master a ninjutsu you need to have at least a deep understanding in one of the two categories if not both. Jutsu that use them together are usually the most powerful types that fall under at least the b-rank category. A strong example of this is the water dragon jutsu which uses nature manipulation to mass together a great deal of water and than shape manipulation to form the dragon it is named for."

The gennin nodded as he followed along in what he had been saying. It made sense now that he had began to rationalize it in the terms the Hokage had used instead of the the in depth concepts that Umino Iruka preferred.

"With that being said I'll take the idea of nature manipulation a bit deeper." Sarutobi said as he reached in to his white robes and removed his customary pipe from where ever he hid it. "I want to explain the idea behind elemental techniques. Of which most are blood inheritance."

The blond sat up a little straighter as his train of thought merged on to the path the Sandaime Hokage must have been going towards. He formed a fist with his right hands as excitement started to run through him. He was finally going to begin what had always been denied to him.

If Sarutobi noticed his sudden change in body language he said nothing as he calmly lit his pipe with a fine manipulation of fire chakra. He took a deep breath and savored the sweet and smokey flavor of his tobacco before he removed his pipe and exhaled slowly.

"Some bloodline limits." He began slowly as the smoke dissipaited. "Are actually not restricted to blood lineage. In reality they simply need the right combination of chakra elements and the skill needed to combine them equal in order to produce the needed results. With that being said they are usually restricted to families due to the chakra combinations being similar. From there it takes simply the proper training from older and more experienced members. Who of course would not share the secrets with those who aren't of the blood."

The young shinobi remained silent as he listened intently to his teacher.

"Those techniques are usually called _kekkei genkai_, the same as actual physical abillites such as the Hyuuga's Byukugan or the Uchiha's Sharingan. However there is something even more rare and in most cases more devestating."

He paused here and stood from his position leaning against the tree to take a few steps to the gennin. He placed his pipe back in to his mouth and took another deep breath as he stopped just before the blond.

"As I just said an elemental _kekkei genkai_ or bloodline limit uses two elements that are combined equally to create a completely new element. What many don't know is that there are an even more powerful combination of elemental chakra that requires at least three different elements." He paused to let that sink in. "This sort of combination is known as a _kekkei tota _or bloodline selection_."_

The gennin blinked in surprised as he took in what the man had been saying. His mind briefly went back to the battle in wave country and the techniques the young boy who had taught him so much. It matched exactly what his opponent had told him before his final moments.

"By now your no doubt thinking about your mission to wave country." The Hokage correctly guessed. "And if not that is the example I will use. According to the report you became friends with a young boy who turned out to be one of your enemies. Now, apart from the fact that you should be more careful about who you speak to, I want to talk about his unique ninjutsu."

"The ice techniques." Naruto said. "He mentioned everything your saying. I just didn't undertand it like now."

Sarutobi nodded as he took another puff of his pipe.

"The Yuki clan used to indeed reside in water country." He continued. "They specialized in water and, as you've guessed, ice ninjutsu. During the time before the great shinobi villages, when the clans did nothing but engange in constant battle with others, the Yuki clan once held an entire region near swamp country where the used the natural moisture to their advantage. And as such had decades to perfect their techniques.

"That is an example of an elemental kekkei genkai. As you can say from experince it is extremely powerful and versatile. And as such the secrets are guarded jealously. It's what made the report about the boy you encountered so surprising. I had little personal contact with members of the Yuki clan but I've never heard in all of my years as the Hokage of an ice based technique that created mirrors.

"I'd wager that he personally created that technique under Momochi Zabuza's guidance. For someone his age to have used it with such a devestating effect meant that he had to have practiced extensively with it. With that line of thought I can come to the conclusion that the boy created the ninjutsu quite a while before you ever encountered him. Years perhaps. For him to only have been a year or so older than you speaks volumes about his natural talent."

Naruto nodded slowly as he listened. Indeed it did say a lot about the kind of shinobi Haku must have been. The boy would have been hailed here in the village as another clan genius without a doubt. Maybe even more so than Sasuke or the Hyuuga boy. And yet for all that talent he had died so easily when it all came down to it. It was a sombre line of thinking.

He had nowhere near as much talent.

"Now, with that being said I want for you to understand the difference in ability between an elemental kekkei genkai and and elemental kekkei tota." The Hokage continued. "First and foremost are the rarity. As I said before kekkei tota are mostly unknown. The largest reason for that are the lack of them in our world. Apart from the ice ability you came across I can tell you off the top of my head around five other elemental kekkei genkai with the first two coming to mind being the scorch element made famous in Suna and the wood manipulation that my sensei became renoun for before he took on the mantel of the first Hokage."

The Hokage removed his pipe and fixed a strong look on to the boy which froze him in place.

"I can, in all my years as a shinobi, only tell you of one ability that officially counts as a kekkei tota. And the only two people who have ever shown the ability both became Tsuchikage."

The blond blinked as he took in the words and processed them. The idea that the abilities that Haku had shown were still another level under what they could have been was mind blowing to say the least. The boy had been so powerful. Easily high chunnin level. The only real weakness he had shown was his own kindness. And despite the fact that he was the personal student of a well known A-ranked jounin who specialized in stealth and assasinations it still said volumes about the strength of his blood ability.

But here the Hokage was telling him that in his seventy years as a shinobi he had come across a technique that was not only rarer but far more powerful. So much so that the only two people who could use it were S-class in terms of strength.

Naruto was many things and far from bright but he wasn't a complete fool. The fight between Kakashi and Zabuza would never truly be forgotten and it helped show just how far he had to go. But even so he knew just from his less then five minute bout in the second portion of the exams that the gap between Kakashi and the man known as Orochimaru was _beyond large_.

The idea that one extra element meant the difference between high chunnin to kage was astounding.

"The jinton or dust release was first used by the Nidaime Tsuchikage. Mu had been known as the 'Null-Man' for his stealth capabilites. But even more devestating were his ninjutsu techniques based around the jinton element. With this power he could destroy entire armies and crush his enemies at their most basic levels. In addition his mastery over his ability even allowed him to fly for a period of time and lift objects well over a hundred times his own weight."

Naruto swallowed as he listened attentively. The techniques that the Sandaime Hokage were describing seemed beyond imagination. For as amazing as ninjutsu and the ninja arts in general were Naruto never thought anything of this sort were remotely possible.

"That man passed the techniques on to his prized pupil, a distant nephew, who also shared the same three chakra natures he did." The Hokage smirked as something passed in his eyes. "The battles I waged against the man who became Sandaime Tsuchikage were ground shaking. And the more I think about it the more sure I am that we, along with Ame's leader in Hanzou, have to be of a dying breed. From a time where the world around us was much more wild."

The old shinobi shook his head to clear his mind. It would do him no good to start drifting down memory lane right now.

"Now, as I said the dust release is the only official example I have of a kekkei tota. But for quite some time I have come to the conclusion that two other special elementals combinations could also require three natures. One is the magnet release of the now dead Sandaime Kazekage who used his special chakra nature to combine shreads of iron powder used for smithing in to something monsterous." He paused again and looked the boy in the eye. "The second. Is the crystal release."

Naruto froze still as he realized what the old man had been leading up to. The special ability that he had apparently only been able to use accidently to this point. The chakra based ninjutsu that caused all of this and made him feel as if he were being ripped apart from the inside.

The memory of the pain was terrifying but the idea that he had his own special ability was beyond exhilirating.

"The ability you've shown twice now." The Hokage said. "Was only seen by one other person in my team... A man known as Shinto. Uzumaki Shinto." He paused for a second before he dropped the bomb. "The man who would have been your great grandfather."

The boy's heart nearly stopped as the words reached him. Another portion of his history revealed. More proof that despite what everyone had once told him about himself the name Uzumaki actual did mean something.

"When I first meet that man he was far along in his life. But like the Uzumaki clan had always been he was full of vigor and healthy beyond what those his age should be. He sparred once with my sensei, the Shodamie Hokage, as an example to us of the younger generation about how far we had to go." He grinned here. "Maybe if he had been twenty years younger my supposedly unbeatable sensei would have lost."

He turned his attention to look at the sky above them. The sunlight had began to fail them and the stars would soon begin to peek at them from the night sky. They had been training for such a long time and even still it wasn't enough. This day would not be over any time soon.

"Your test with the chakra paper yesterday confirmed my long held suspicion." He continued as he brought his attention back to the gennin seated on the ground before him. "Your chakra is far more developed than anyone else your age. Perhaps this is an effect of the Kyuubi or something to do with your status as a member of the Uzumaki. Or maybe your just as special as you've always said you are. Any way you spin it you have an advantage most people never have let alone most ninja under jounin.

"I intend for you to use that."

Naruto simply nodded as he began to stand. His breathing had long since calmed down and he had retained everything the man had told him. He had so many questions and things he wanted answered but he had learned that there was a time and place for that. Now was not that time.

"We'll begin right away." Sarutobi said. "We don't have the time needed to show you how to properly manipulate elemental nature. That's something that takes decades. However the fact you've used this ability twice now without any prior training means the requirements for at least early usage is low and your body has the chakra memory necessary to use it."

Naruto nodded as he took another deep breath and rolled his shoulders.

"Good. Now to start we have to first begin on the basic applications of each three natures." The Hokage began as he led his newest student on to the path to controlling his unique elemental chakra.


	2. A Shift In Perception

"Speech"

_'Thought_

Flashback **(())**

_Disclaimer: I do not own in anyway Naruto. If I did the world wouldn't be so lame._

* * *

The gennin exhaled slowly as the chill reached his skin. Goosebumps rose up as his breath condensed the air in front of him. He stood shirtless as he marveled at the work of the Sandaime Hokage for what had to have been the tenth time that evening. The man was far more genius than he could have ever imagined. To have frozen an entire lake solid in mid spring with simple manipulation of chakra spoke volumes about what the man could accomplish. And it showed him how far he would have to go.

_Focus_. The blond chided himself as his blue eyes glanced around his bare surroundings. _Where is he_?

He currently stood atop the man made ice ring without a shirt and in simple shorts. The rules to this particular excercise were simple. Keep from falling unconscious. The icy footing made it difficult to keep his balance and forced him to continuously regulate a flow of chakra to his feet to keep his footing reliable. At the same time he was to keep a slow flow of chakra from the pores on his upper body in an attempt to keep himself from freezing.

This was an advanced sort of chakra training the Sandaime had introduced the day before. After he had successfully learned the water walking excercise to the degree that he was capable of sustained combat while staying upright the Hokage had immediately pulled him from the surface of the water before he used a single ninjutsu to freeze it to the core.

As he watched in awe the boy kept an ear open to the words the old man imparted on to him. You never know what kind of enviroment you'll be deployed in to and what kind of challenges you would meet there. And so you should always try to prepare as best as possible for it all. The old shinobi went on to tell him of the different long term assignments he had taken during his youth and the different environments he had been deployed in to during the days of war. He went on to say how something as simple as letting the smell of a swamp distract you could mean the difference between life or death. Or worse, winning a war and losing it.

"You never know what to truly expect Naruto." The man had said as he finished his ninjutsu. "As you rise in rank and reputation you'll be allotted missions that offer both a higher pay raise and a higher level of danger. From that point on the intelligence we give you can only take you so far. A number of things can change or go overlooked. Or perhaps your client will even flat out lie to you. I think you know exactly what I mean."

He did. He took note of those words as well. Just as he did everything the old Hokage had thrown at him.

In fact the more time he spent with the old leader the more he came to love the man's teaching style. It was unlike anything he had ever encountered before. It was a mixture of both sink and swim with a hint of 'this is why this happens'. Cause and effect with visual and physical examples.

It worked for him. And it was showing. For the first time in a long time Naruto enjoyed training. He enjoyed learning about the world of the ninja. Instead of going through the motions he woke up everyday with an eagerness to begin while going to bed at night tired yet satisfied. He knew it couldn't last forever so he took in everything he could as fast as he could.

There were two weeks left before the exam. He was prepared to make them count.

The slight shuffle on the wind reached his sensitive ears. The boy was moving a long time before the shuriken even reached his position. He moved across the ice in a controlled slide as he focused all his senses on to the world around him. The chakra on his skin tingled and rippled as it reached out to the world around him.

They had learned a week prior that he had minor talent as a sensor. If it came from blood or from the nine tails they did not know but it was useful none the less and added another thing for Naruto to focus his training on. Another avenue to increase his skill. For now he had little to know skill with it but he knew enough to help him find the direction of chakra that traveled towards him.

Like the flow underneath the ice below his feet.

With an application of control he didn't have before the blond shifted his chakra through his soles and in to the frigid ice below him. He stopped immediately before he hopped backwards. The timing was perfect as the meaty fist ripped from before him. He stopped and juked sideways as the summon fully freed himself from the water before rushing right at him.

He had quickly come to respect the strength of the Sarutobi head's contract. They were physically imposing and agile in ways that a human could never be. There tails acted as extra limbs and with their tremendous strength they made for excellent fighters in terms of taijutsu. Something he had come to find out the hard way.

The block came up in a near textbook example of what the Hokage had shown him. Rigid and firm it served it's purpose and stopped the haymaker inches before it met his face. He retreated quickly as the slightly taller animal began to press it's attack. Fist flew, feet flailed, and the tail twirled as his opponent for the day sought to teach him taijutsu the hard way. And the boy was quick to show what he had learned in response.

Block after block and strike after strike the blond struggled but never the less kept up with his assailant. The two danced across the frozen surface of the lake with a flurry of motion that normal people could barely see much less follow. Naruto ducked low under a hook before he lashed out a right sweeping punch of his own aimed for the ribs. It was slapped aside and the monkey to the chance to lean forward and fire off a quick knee towards the unprotect side the over extension created.

The blond was ready for that and with a slight application of his chakra in a circular motion he adjusted his footing and slid his body to the opposite side and brought the same arm in a returning back fist. The quick twitch fibers of the summon allowed it to avoid the strike by leaning it's head back with it's leg still extended. Falling backward it caught it's self with it's right hand while it's left leg switched the attempted knee in to a front kick.

The blow landed home and the gennin was uprooted from his feet but still maintained enough control to avoid from falling backwards. Instinctively his chakra re-attached his footing and he forced himself to breath as the assault continued. He raised his arms to defended each punch and shifted his base to avoid each kick. Taijutsu had never been one of his strong points. Something that could now be contributed to his lack of proper education.

But now he felt that he could at least take on most chunnin. And he would fight no one as strong or as fast as the Sandaime anytime soon. He may not be able to beat the Hyuuga genius in a straight up physical fight at this point but at least he wouldn't go down on the first few blows.

"Enough!"

The two combatants instantly split apart at the command. The gennin huffed and heaved as he took the time to catch his breath. The Hokage calmly stepped out on to the ice and walked towards them with his arms clasped behind his back. He looked over the two of them each before he nodded as he apparently found something he liked.

"Very good. Both of you." He commented as he puffed merrily on his tobacco. "It's seems as if you've actually got a work out from this Sanji."

The monkey, Sanji, nodded in reply as he too took the time to catch his bearings. A stirring of pride began to rise from deep within the gennin as he realized that he had caused that. The first time they had sparred the week prior he had barely been able to manage a full minute before he had been knocked down. Now he had nearly fought to a standstill.

"Thank you for your help. And please send Enma my thanks as well." The monkey nodded before it bowed to them both and dispelled. Sarutobi waited for the smoke to clear before he focused his attention solely on the blond.

"That was excellent work today. You've come a long way in your taijutsu in such a short time." He complimented. And it was true. More and more the gennin impressed him with his capacity for learning. "It is imperative that you keep your taijutsu training up. Many young shinobi overlook it for the flashy abilities of ninjutsu when it can be the difference between life and death. Obviously to be a Hokage you have to have some proficiency in each of the three main phases but the best thing to do is to be come well rounded enough."

The gennin frowned. "I thought working on too many skill was a bad thing." It was one of the few things he remembered from the academy. The Hokage nodded slowly.

"Yes and no. Most shinobi have neither the talent or the patience needed to completely round themselves. And it can be a bad thing to be a jack of all trades. But at the same time it can successfully cover weaknesses. You don't have that kind of excuse. You have the talent." Sarutobi argued.

Naruto nodded as he rolled his shoulders. "So what's next?"

"Next we'll begin summoning." The Hokage replied. "I have a surprise for you. For all your hard work."

The blond grinned slightly before he smothered it down.

"What I have in mind for you." He continued. "Is both beyond useful and beyond dangerous for you. Years ago in my occupation as a jounin I came across a fierce competitor from the now destroyed hot springs village. This man used an unusual sort of summoning and after his defeat I came across his scroll."

"Strange?" The blond questioned.

"Strange in the abilities it showed." The Hokage smiled at the gennin. "Abilities you'll have to learn your self. Summoning contracts are rare and valuable village resources. Konoha has the most at a total of ten in mass circulation. In order to sign a contract one must go through a long and extensive process that isn't even available until you reach special jounin levels. Of course there are some special cases in which these things can be circumvented. This is one of those such cases."

"I can use this summon?" The blond asked hopefully. The Hokage nodded.

"Naruto. You can have the scroll if you can convince them to take you in."

* * *

"We've got a problem."

The Hokage stopped mid step and turned in the hallway to face his old student. "Jiraiya. You've returned already?"

The sannin didn't say anything. His face full of the serious sort of conviction that he only showed during the most dire of circumstances. The village leader noted this and turned to continue his journey to the office he hadn't visited in over a month. If the sannin was here now this had to be important. He opened the door and stepped inside. A copy of him looking up in surprise. A nod and the person was replaced with an older looking women who rose from the seat. The sannin quickly stepped through the door and leaned against it.

"Are we clear?"

"Yes." The elderly woman answered as she shot a look between them and stepped from behind the large desk. "What's going on?"

"We apparently have a problem of grave importance." Sarutobi answered. "I'll leave it to you to relay it to Homaru. Jiraiya?"

"If you remember I said something not too long ago about checking up on Uchiha Itachi."

The two village elders shared a look before nodding.

"Then I sent a report noting a possible connection between him and Orochimaru."

"Yes?" The old fire shadow's voice now stern. A nervous edge creeping up. "What is it?"

"I found that connection. And it's not good." The sannin paused here and looked between the two. "It appears that a few years back, before Orochimaru became leader of sound, the two had been allies in an organization of some sort. A high class organization."

"What sort of organization?"

"The kind that spells bad news for not only Konoha but the entire ninja world. Apparently it was a group of ten with a very specific membership requirement... You had to be a missing-nin. S-class and wanted for some kind of heinous crime around the shinobi world." The words seeping in to their head. Even the sannin, who was reporting it, taking note of it again. "The bad kind of fuckers that you didn't want to mess with unless you had no other choice."

Koharu frowned. Worry showing in her eyes. "This does not bode well. Any idea as to what they were doing?"

"Oh yes. I have an idea." Jiraiya responded before taking a deep breath. "Apparently they were focusing on kidnapping. Or more specifically grabbing a certain group of people." His eyes quickly darting to the large bay window and the monument on the mountain. "The jinchuuriki. They're hunting them."

Sarutobi could not help but draw in a large gulp of air in surprise. Disbelief written across his face. A reaction that was matched by his old teammate.

"For what I don't know." Jiraiya continued. "But it can be safe to say it's not good. And from what I gathered Orochimaru rebelled and went in to hiding from them after he attempted to harvest Itachi's eyes... To which he was promptly beaten and tossed aside by our young mass murderer."

"Do you have any idea who else is included in the group?"

"No. The Akatsuki, their name, is very closely guarded. And I had to hide this informant for fear of his safety. But he did give me one piece of information. A measure of how dangerous they can be."

"What is it?" Dropping down in to his seat.

"You remember the civil war in Kiri correct?"

"How can we not?" Koharu replied as she choose one of the seats in front of the desk. "The bloodline limit purges."

"Rather insane." The Hokage added. "Blaming all the bloodline clans for their problems in wars."

"I've got some really chilling info that the Akatsuki had something to do with it. Rumor was that the last Mizukage was the sanbi jinchuuriki. And that after he was defeated it was unmasked that someone wearing a black cloak with red clouds had been using a jutsu to influence him for years... The calling card of the Akatsuki."

A tense silence descended on the room. The old Hokage sighed heavily as he dropped in to his chair and clasped his hands under his chin. Resting his head and weary eyes as he tried to maintain control of the wave of thoughts. He sat in the same chair that had been through so many of these situations before. Another crisis be falling his village. His home.

"We have to tell Naruto."

Koharu frowned. "What?"

"We have to tell Naruto." He repeated as his eyes moved up to meet hers. "Let him know of their presence and what they're after. Put him on alert for anything too suspicious."

"Is that wise?" She protested. "I just don't seem to believe Uzumaki can handle it."

"I agree with sensei on this." Jiraiya stepped in. "He'll find out sooner or later. But at least this way he'll have time to prepare himself. It involves him directly and in turn affects the village as a whole. He at the very least deserves to know. If only to keep his faith in the village."

"I suppose so..."

"It makes perfect sense." Hiruzen continued. "I'll leave it to you to tell him Jiraiya."

"Understood. I was planning on seeking him out after this. Only two days left."

"Meanwhile we'll be working to make a contingency plan for defending the village."

Koharu frowned even deeper. "You expect them soon?"

"No. Or at least I hope that isn't the case. Rather this is a precaution for the finals."

"The finals?" The sannin asked as he finally stepped away from the door. "Do you anticipate something happening."

The Hokage gave him a dull look. "Do you honestly not? You know Orochimaru as well as I do. He wouldn't have come out of hiding just to mark young Sasuke. He wants something more out of all this. The only question is what... Out of all the Uchiha left in the village why do you think he choose Sasuke? Because of his potential? His connection to Itachi? No. I believe the answer is far too visible to look that deep."

Koharu nodded her head. "For the simple fact that he has chosen the path of revenge." A heavy sigh escaping her. "It would be easiest to temp him with the promise of power. What he can't obtain easily here in Konoha. Of all the Uchiha left Sasuke is the most emotionally and mentally unstable. Others might have dreams of revenge but only he actively lets it rule his life."

"For that we have to keep a close eye on him. Especially considering his disposition towards Naruto. Seeing someone he previously disregarded improve so drastically in such a small amount of time could invoke him in to a fit of rage. And then I could easily see him falling in to Orochimaru's trap. Listening to the sweet whispers of power. It couldn't be something that we could put off though. Naruto needed the training. And this new development only makes it a more pressing matter."

"Hiruzen." Koharu began as she shot her old teammate a curious glance. "Do you honestly believe Uzumaki has improved that much in such a short time?"

"To be stronger then Sasuke? That isn't something I can say at this point without having an idea about how well Kakashi has trained him. With the Sharingan he has the potential for drastic improvement. But I do believe that Naruto has the ability to win this exam and show the skills necessary for chunnin promotion. To be honest I was at a lost for how much potential Naruto showed himself. He shows a surprising grasp when words are put in to the right terms. And his physical abilities were quite impressive to start."

"And the Kyuubi?"

"Not a problem." Jiraiya interjected. "Before we even began I put a seal on him to limit the Kyuubi's influence on him. I wanted to teach him how to manage his own power before delving in to that of the fox demon. And at first it seemed like a good idea. We were working on nature manipulation when his kekkei genkai resurfaced."

"Nature manipulation? A gennin?" She asked skeptically.

The sannin shrugged. "He was doing fairly well. Obviously I hadn't expected for him to gain complete control. But I wanted enough for him to manage higher level ninjutsu. I started with wind, being his primary nature, and figured with his massive chakra reserves he could use wind ninjutsu for mass area damage where he could not counter with inferior skill. Keep the Hyuuga boy from using taijutsu."

"I continued on that base." Hiruzen added, realising that they were now explaining Naruto's training. "Earth and wind natures are around a good level. He still needs a lot of work if he ever wants to get to the elite level but for now he's well beyond gennin. It's more then a little unfair at how quickly he's progressed considering he's the only one capable of using the kage bushin technique to it's full potential. Add to it his work with his kekkei tota, speed training, minor taijutsu adjustments, and summoning-"

"He can summon?" Jiraiya asked in real surprise, an expression that Koharu mirrored. "What is it? I had hoped he would continue the tradition and summon toads-"

"No." Sarutobi cut off as he shook his head. "He would not accept that. For that I gave him another choice. Do you remember Koharu? The scroll we found as a young team?

She frowned. "Those strange violent beast? They accepted him?"

The Hokage nodded. "Indeed. I was reluctant at first and insisted on staying with him for safety reasons. But in the end he supposedly impressed them quite a bit."

"So it's safe to say he's more then ready for the exam?"

"Indeed. Which means we have, for the moment at least, one less problem to deal with. And with that in mind we have to make a move now. Jiraiya, I'll be counting on you to watch over Naruto from here on out. Make sure he's prepared for this Akatsuki."

"Alright." Jiraiya nodded. "And as for Orochimaru-"

"Don't worry about that." Hiruzen cut in. "We'll be handling that. All I ask is that if something were to happen you would protect the village and it's occupants if I am predisposed with something else."

"Are you sure? I could-"

"No. Just what I've asked." Giving his old student a slight smile. "I don't want to worry you any more then I have."

The sannin frowned but gave in and turned to open the door. "Alright. I'll be on my way then. Check on the kid before the exam."

"Very well. Goodbye Jiraiya."

"See ya sensei."

The Hokage waited until he was sure his old student was gone before turning to the other occupant of the room.

"Now then. I'll need you and Homaru."

* * *

STAGE TWO

A SHIFT IN PERCEPTION

* * *

The air was full of excitement and the village was abuzz. Travelers from far and wide had marched upon the village hidden by the leaves in anticipation of this this one day. The final round of the chunnin exams were set to start that afternoon and everyone who was anyone were prepared to attend.

Around the village a festival had started and the people congregated together in groups by the thousand. Various bets were made on the outcome of the exams and nobles from various settlements came in droves to be wined and dined as they took the chance to check out the young future of the various shinobi villages.

Away from this all Naruto sat alone at his favorite ramen stand. His eyes traced the crowd of people before turned in his seat to face his ramen. This was the day he had been waiting for. The day he had busted his ass to get to. The day where he would really begin his journey. Today he would make sure the village knew his name.

And than the whole world.

His eyes glanced up to two of the few people in the entire village that had gained his respect. The sight of his favorite ramen spot filled to the brim with customers brought a now rare genuine smile to his face. They had always shown him kindness despite the trouble it caused them.

But that would all change now.

_No point hanging around here any longer_. Naruto thought as he looked around the crowded area. _These people have come for a show after all._

With a wave of his hand he signaled the ramen stand server. "Thanks for the meal Ayame!" He called as he set down a stack of ryo that far exceeded the amount necessary before he slipped another piece of paper on top of that.

_A hundred to one odds_. He thought as he began to walk away from the stand. _That'll put them in a great position_.

And with that done the blond made his way to the newly built coliseum.

* * *

The roaring crowd was more than he expected. Far more. Thousands upon thousands of civilians, shinobi, and perspective clients had already packed the stands in preparation for what was to come. It was a sea of people so great the blond didn't even both to make a guess as to how many of them there were.

Over the break the Hokage had chosen to delve deeper in to the meaning of the chunnin exam. He expanded on how it's purpose of promoting unity was important but overall simply a front. Clients used their battles to measure the worth of the next generation and to decide where to put their stock for the future. Poor showings could mean the difference between a boom or a bust for each ninja's respective villages. Something that apparently Suna had already been feeling.

It was because of this the children of the Kazekage were even allowed to compete in the first place. As the first family of the village hidden in the sand they were to represent that despite falling on hard times the village still had more than enough talent at it's highest levels. Or at least that had been the idea. The fact that the only three sand ninja who attended the exam had all made it to the final round would help to validate that claim.

At least until they were knocked out by the home crowd that was.

"Hey Naruto. What's with the new get up?"

Naruto glanced down the line to his right where the young heir of the Nara clan looked over him. The blond frowned but didn't give anything else in return. He was unsure of how he felt concerning his fellow leaf gennin. Unlike most they had known him from the time spent in the academy together... And did nothing more but antagonize him. The more he thought on the subject the more upset it made him. He had always been subjected to unfair treatment by those around him and had largely gotten used to it. But still it annoyed him to have all of his attempts at friendship rebuffed or mocked.

And now the other leaf gennin wanted to act like they were great friends?

Naruto gave no verbal reply and instead faced the crowd ahead of them once again with full intent to ignore the question. His gennin teammate was missing and the young ninja briefly wondered if it was the work of his jounin former jounin sensei. Not that it would surprise him any. Kakashi and Sasuke were made for one another.

The Nara clan heir shook his head at the rude dismissal and gave the blond gennin another look over. He now wore a pair of lose fitting black pants with two small orange stripes running down the side while using his hiate-ate as a belt with it's black cloth. Strapped to both legs the blond wore the usual shinobi pouch with a stock of kunai for the left and shuriken for the right. A black vest zipped up to the middle of his chest covered a short sleeve orange shirt that just managed to reach down to his biceps. Bandages had been wrapped from just below the elbow up to the tips of his digits and fingerless gloves covering each hand while the meta plating below the knuckles protected the back. His hair had grown somewhat and now the bangs fell in to his eyes and obscured them just enough. And to top that all off for some reason the blond had taken to wearing a bright and obnoxious colored orange cloak to cover it all.

That aside he looked like an actual shinobi now. Or at least as much as one who was obsessed with the color orange could be. Still, if the blond gennin thought the change in uniform would help him in his fight against the Hyuuga prodigy he would be in for a rude awakening.

_Maybe getting his face punched in again will finally teach him some respect_. The Nara heir thought briefly before he snorted. Unlikely.

"All except for Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji need to leave the staging ground." The examiner proclaimed. Naruto briefly noticed it was a completely different man than it had originally been but didn't think anything of it as the gennin around him walked away. "Follow me Uzumaki."

The gennin followed the proctor as he led him a considerable distance away from his still opponent before he allowed him to turn back around. The two gennin faced each other as the examiner addressed the crowd around them who roared in anticipation. Everyone liked a good fight. Especially ninja fights.

The Hyuuga prodigy faced his younger opponent with the superior smirk he always sported. He looked over the smaller gennin before he snorted. "You can forget now and save yourself some humiliation."

The blond gennin frowned and made to open his mouth to reply before he stopped himself. He was letting his opponent get under his skin already. The Hokage had warned him of that and if he let himself fall victim to his enemies taunts he had already lost the battle between the minds. His lack of response did not seem to bother the young Hyuuga though and if possible the smirk seemed to grow brooder.

"Good." He spoke again. "You have complete confidence in your skills. It'll make crushing you all the more sweeter."

Again he only received silence.

The silence that spanned the distance between the two could be cut with a knife.

The exam proctor, chewing on this senbon, looked between the two young shinobi. Eyes glancing from the favored to the underdog. Despite everything he had been told about the two competitors up to this point he could not shake the feeling that this was going to be a battle that would be talked about for a long time in the village. Around them the crowd roared, anxious for the first fight. He raised a single hand high in to the air and held it with palm open.

"Are both of you ready?"

The Hyuuga nodded. The rookie gennin nodded.

He swiped his right hand through the air.

"Hajime!"

* * *

The first improvement the Hyuuga prodigy noted was the increase in overall speed. By the time the proctor had finished moving his arm the blond was in motion. One quick hop back to increase the distance was followed by the right hand reaching down and flicking free five shuriken. Than half a second later the two hands had together and the five metal stars had become fifty.

The Hyuuga stiffened as the customary veins around the side of his face bulged open. He bit his lower lip as his Byakuugan enhanced sight caught the glints of fire attached to the end of each metal star. Exploding tags.

_Shit._

With his hand forced the young shinobi evaded the incoming death trap the only sure fire way he knew how. By spinning in a complete circle.

_"**Kaiten!"** (Heavenly Spin)_

The blond narrowed his eyes in surprise as the dome of solid chakra took shape around his adversary. The shuriken exploded on contact and a great wave of fire so intense he could feel the flames prickling his skin blossomed open. The gennin didn't waste any time in preparing his next move. A cross shaped seal later and two shadow clones popped in to existence around him before they darted off towards the dwindling cloud of smoke.

A pair of shuriken cut them both down mid way as the Hyuuga gennin ripped free of the devastation. He charged across the ground hard and fast as he sought to close the gap in order to attack the blond in close quarters. His feet slid to a halt and kicked up dirt and gravel as the other leaf shinobi began to make a row of seals even faster than he had before.

**Suiton: Mizurappa**! _(Water Release: Water Trumpet)_

The Hyuuga prodigy pulled his body in to a tight spin to the right to avoid the violent burst of water that ripped across the distance between the them. He focused on his footwork and came to a stop facing his opponent again only to jerk back as a wave of orange clouded his immediate vision.

The older gennin lashed out with a chakra coated palm strike and struck nothing but air as the younger gennin body flickered past his defense. The Hyuuga prodigy gritted his teeth as he lashed his left foot out directly behind him and forced the blond to evade by quickly turning his body to the side and slapping it away with a palm.

Using the momentum the Hyuuga quickly turned to meet his younger adversary and lashed out a front quick that was blocked by a raised knee. undeterred two hands lashed forward towards the chest in what would be crushing blows only for strong blocks to deflect them at the inner forearm. The blond dropped his knee and leaned forward to reach past the Hyuuga's guard. The action was meet with the prodigy quickly taking a step back before he realized he had been hand and hopped over the leg sweep the younger gennin had set up.

The blond leaned forward on to his two hands before he lifted his lower body up and lashed out with a quick side kick that stopped the prodigy's drive short. Then he focused a burst of chakra down and out with enough force to launch him sideways in to a roll. Standing quickly to face his opponent he leaned and knocked away another chakra infused blow with his right hand before he lashed out with a front kick from his right foot. The Hyuuga prodigy evaded that with a nimble side step as he moved to the outside and jabbed at the limb with two finger.

The two gennin became a flurry of strikes and blocks as they tried to land a solid blow. The crowd's combined voices rose in to a frenzy as the young leaf ninja went at each other with all the ferocity of bitter enemies. To the people it was an unexpected strong fight from what was supposed to be a quick encounter. The shinobi however saw something completely different. To them two young ninja flashed skill that boggled the mind when they factored their age and experience. The seasoned veterans saw two young ninja who's hand to hand combat skills far out stripped anything more then two thirds could have pulled off at the same stage in their own personal developments.

It was the future spread out before them.

* * *

"That can't be Naruto!" The Yamanaka clan heiress shouted as she looked down on the arena below them. "Tell me that's not Naruto!"

Haruno Sakura opened her mouth to reply before she snapped it shut. Her body had gone still and her own eyes were open with shock as she stared down at the scene before her. She wanted to say something, anything really, but couldn't. Because despite the loyalty she wanted to show to her teammate there was just _now way that was Uzumaki Naruto_.

"Tell me it isn't him!" The blond kuniochi had taken to gripping the metal railing in front of her to express her disbelief physically. "That isn't Naruto-"

"It is." The male beside her cut in roughly. "That's him alright. Only he could stand to wear that much orange." Inuzunka Kiba's voice was serious and out of character. In his lap the small puppy that served as his partner curled up as it watched the match along with it's master.

"But _how_?" The girl stressed. "How the hell did Naruto of all people get so good?"

"Oh I don't know." The boy snarked sarcastically. "Maybe by_ training_? I know if I were given two months to work with and heard everyone counting me out you best better believe I would do everything I could to show them wrong." The words were rough but truthful all the same.

But what kind of training could turn someone so helpless in to something so fierce? Haruno Sakura rationalized as she watched her teammate twist and twirl with the older gennin. She could scarcely believe it herself but here he was matching an older and more experienced opponent blow for blow. The short boy who was more brawler than ninja had managed to keep up with previous year's best rookie. A member of an honored clan who was known specifically for their skill in hand to hand combat.

And this one was known as the most gifted they had.

How in the _hell_ was he doing this?

* * *

The Hyuuga prodigy felt the opening before it even came up. A feint with his right hand forced the blond to guard. A mistake that the older gennin capitalized. With a simple shift of his footing he reached out and further batted the arm apart. Inside his younger opponents guard Hyuuga Neji snapped off three quick finger taps before he finally landed a fierce palm strike that sent the younger gennin stumbling back.

Without missing a beat the white eyed prodigy flashed forward before he rose up and launched a side kick directly to his adversary's chest. The shorter gennin flew back with wide eyes as he hit the ground with a thud and rolled back feet over head. With his smirk back in place the Hyuuga quickly rushed forward again and followed after with the intent on ending the match.

Only to stiffen in surprise as his combatant dispelled in to a puff of smoke mid roll.

The blond erupted from the ground with the force of a breaching whale. The long haired gennin slid to a stop and leaned back just enough so that the uppercut only snapped his teeth shut by brushing the edge of his chin. But off balance he was unable to stop the flowing kick that slammed in to his stomach with _far_ more force than anything that blond had shown up to that point.

The older leaf gennin felt the air forced from his lungs as he was sent jolting backwards by the strike. He fell on to his back and slid for half a second before experience forced him to roll his body to the right in order to avoid the knee drop that landed where he had just been. Even with no air in his lungs the Hyuuga gennin lashed out, turning his body sideways and throwing a quick kick that caught the turning blond in his side.

Naruto grunted as he to hit the ground before he rolled with the momentum and forced his way on to his feet. Neji was on him the next second and the blond retreated as he blocked the rough series of strikes the older gennin leveled at him. Seeing no other way to put distance between them the blond took a gamble and turned his body to the right. He grunted as two strikes slammed in to his shoulder as he skip-hopped to escape the onslaught. Though he could feel the area start to numb immediately the maneuver paid off as it allowed him to pull free three shuriken to cover his tracks.

The Hyuuga prodigy juked to the side as the stars flashed toward him before he slammed to a stop as he looked up to see the younger gennin crouched down before him with one hand on the ground.

The two went still for nearly ten seconds before the younger gennin's face grew grave.

"Before we continue." He said. "I want to ask you... What the fuck is your deal?"

The branch family member blinked slightly in surprise before his brow furrowed. The veins surrounding his eyes pulsed with irritation as he processed the words. He grit his teeth and his right hand twitched in frustration.

"My _deal_?" The words were hollow and dead. "You want to _know what my deal is_?"

The blond frowned. "Damn right I do. Why did you go off like that before? What has she ever done to you-"

"Hyuuga Hinata is a failure." The older gennin cut in. "Right now, in their graves, our ancestors laugh at the idea alone that someone like her would take on the title of clan head." His white eyes pinned the younger gennin to the spot.

"A failure?" Naruto echoed in disbelief. Neji nodded as he calmly stood to full height and crossed his arms.

"That is correct. She, who was born heiress to our clan, is routinely mocked. She is unsuitable for the life of a ninja and the horrors it can bring. She is shy to a fault and dislikes causing suffering of any kind. She doesn't have the will in her to strike down the clan's enemies."

Naruto's mind flashed back to wave country and the kind young man who had spared Sasuke's life only to die himself. It was as the Hyuuga prodigy said. Some people weren't made for the horrible nature of the ninja life. But even still who was he to tell someone what they could and couldn't do?

This was the kind of person that made him the most angry.

"The Hyuuga clan is proud." The older gennin continued. "Our lineage goes back to the time even before the shinobi arts came about. We are warriors at our core and noble on our exterior. For generations we have been serving the leaf village proudly as members of it's shinobi core. And yet the next head of our family can not even defeat her younger sister four years her junior? This is unacceptable in our eyes."

"And that gives you the right to belittle her?" Naruto challenged as the crowd above them began to get restless with the stop in the action. "That gives you the right to step on her dreams?"

The older gennin scoffed. "Dreams? Hyuuga Hinata's dreams are just that. They aren't things that can be accomplished. She's the kind of person who wants peace for everyone in every little thing. She doesn't like conflict of any nature. Her dreams consist of us holding hands from Kumo to Kiri and singing about kindness and happiness."

He chuckled darkly and gave a shake of his head.

"Those aren't dreams. Those are delusions. There is too much hatred and animosity between the people for what she desires. Even in this village there are grudges generations deep that can never be overcome. Something she can never understand. Something she refuses to even try and see."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he tried to rein in his temper.

"As for my deal? I have a personal vendetta that extends not only to my younger cousin but to all members of the main branch family. My deal is that I don't even had a choice in my own life. My deal is that my fate has already been sealed."

The blond narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Your faith has been chosen for you?"

"Indeed." Neji replied as he opened his eyes. "And the fate of all other branch members. To live and die as slaves of the main branch due to the juin jutsu placed upon our foreheads." His hands had began to rise up to his face.

Naruto said nothing as the older gennin reached back and untied his forehead protector. His eyes instantly zoned in on to the array displayed across his forehead. He had heard about this from the Hokage. About that the horrible treatment of the Hyuuga clan branch members and the origins of said seal.

"With this seal on my forehead my fate is already written. I will die a slave to the main family as all branch members before me have." His face became twisted and his expression bitter. "As my father did."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as they came to the heart of the matter. "Your father?"

"Yes. My father who was killed for the sake of the main branch. Sacrificed for a mistake he did not make." He took another deep breath to calm himself before he continued. "Years ago, when I was still young, the leaf village held a festival designed around peace. And the honored guest was a diplomat from Kumo. A jounin."

Naruto remembered that. He had been unable to go for fear of how the people would react. But he did remember that the Hokage had been too busy with the diplomat to see him.

"It was a farce. A lie so that Kumo could pull another underhanded tactic." Neji said. "In truth the man was here for one thing only: to steal the Byakuugan of the Hyuuga clan. And as such he choose his target. _Young lady Hinata_. As you can tell the attempt fell. In his rush to escape the kidnapper had been tracked down by our clan head, her father. But in his anger instead of capturing the man he killed him swiftly. A mistake that made for a political disaster."

The blond could already see where this was going and didn't like it. It was a deep seated grudge that he admitted had some claim to it. Suddenly the older boy didn't seem as much of an asshole as he originally thought.

"Kumo of course denied any involvement and instead threatened with war. The only way to appease them was to give them the life of the man who had killed their diplomat. But that wasn't possible. The main family head could not be expected to take responsiblity for his mistake. And so instead they sent a decoy in his place. His twin brother. My _father_." The words were said with a snarl that made it clear what he thought on the matter and Naruto could not blame him.

"Because Hiashi-sama could not control his temper my father had to die. I hate that. But I do understand it." The gennin's hands had become fist at that point. "But to see my younger cousin acting this way? Weak. Helpless. Useless?!"

"I makes you feel as if your father's sacrifice was in vain." Naruto cut in quietly. Even so they Hyuuga prodigy seemed to have heard him. He shook his head again and caused his long hair to sway with the action.

"More than that. I've trained every day to make myself the kind of shinobi my father would be proud of. I've learned, despite the intent of the main branch to hide the resources from us, manuevers like the heavenly spin on my own. I've mastered every challenge sent my way. And yet no matter how far I get I'll never get the respect I deserve."

_He's beyond angry_. Naruto thought as he eyed his opponent. _He's pissed. And I can't say I blame him_.

Once upon a time he would have stopped the older gennin there and yelled things at him. Things like he was nothing more than a fool or selfish. He would have once declared something like he didn't believe in fate and would do everything in his power to change his perception as well. He would have made promises about the things he would have accomplished when he took on the mantel of Hokage. And that he would make sure that the branch Hyuuga were free.

Now. He just didn't care.

"I don't know." Neji continued as he reached up to to his forehead protector back. "If the clan head, my uncle, even cares that my father died. I used to imagine that he did and felt a great amount of guilt for it. But than again we'll never probably know. And instead every day I have to watch the person my father was sacrificed for fail again and again." He pulled the clothing tight before he slipped back down in to his stance.

"_That's what my deal is_."

* * *

_What's going on down there?_ Haruno Sakura thought as she shifted over to another seat on her right to make room for the newest addition to their viewing group.

It was more than a little surprising when Rock Lee had descended from the stairs and had asked for a seat. The fact that the gennin was moving at all was beyond remarkable. The will power needed to force his body to be here had to be staggering. Not that Sakura couldn't understand why he would push himself. Even she knew how significant it was for him to be here.

"Excuse me." The brown haired girl who had helped him down the stairs had began to speak. "But could you tell us what's going on right now?" Sakura couldn't remember her name but knew her as the teammate of Lee and the Hyuuga prodigy. Of course any answer she would have had didn't even make it to her lips before the blond next to her leaned forward and began to give an avid recap.

Sakura frowned as he moved her head out of the way of flying limbs. It was strange to say the least. One minute they were tangled in a complex series of taijutsu moves and the next they were calmly speaking to one another. She didn't know what to make of it. Naruto didn't usually do anything more but rush his opponent and try brute force.

But than again he was doing a lot he didn't normally do.

"And then they broke apart before..." The Yamanaka clan heiress trailed off with a frown. "Before they started talking."

The disbelief on the brown haired kuniochi's face was amusing to say the least. "I see." Though she didn't believe it. Rock Lee on the other hand had a bright smile on his face as he looked down on to the arena below them.

"I knew Naruto-kun could do it!" It felt a little wrong cheering against his teammate but there was more than just squad pride on the line here. "If anyone is a genius of hard work it's him!"

His teammate frowned as she looked to him and started to say something before the boy at the far end from her spoke up.

"There starting again!"

* * *

Naruto rolled his neck before he nodded his head. "I can respect that than. I was just a little curious."

The older gennin said nothing and simply stared back at him with bulging eyes. The blond didn't take offense to this and simply took a deep breath knowing that the slight intermission was over. His curiosity had been indulged long enough. It was time to finish this.

Here we go.

Clapping his hands together the blond ran through a series of seals before he channeled chakra to the tips of his toes and pushed off. The Hyuuga prodigy didn't even bother to match the charge. Instead he choose to widen his base and flood his right arm with chakra as he prepared to reveal one of his new techniques. Taking a deep breath Neji dipped his hips further before he took a hard step forward with his left foot and threw his right arm out towards the charging Naruto.

**Hakke Kuushou!** _(Eight Divination Sign Air Palm)_

Naruto blanched as the wave of chakra rushed towards him across the expanse between them. Unable to dodge in time inspiration struck him. A seal less shadow clone popped in to existence beside him as he slid to a stop. It reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders before heaving him aside with all it's might. The wave of chakra decimated the clone and Naruto winced mid air as the memories rushed in to his head. He righted himself and landed in a crouch.

Only to jerk back in surprise as the Hyuuga prodigy entered his space via shushin. The arrogant smirk was back as the Hyuuga spread his arms wide and crouched down before him.

"Your in the range of my divination." He announced as his Byaukugan took in the location of the blond's tenketsu and two fingers extended from each fist.

_Shit! _

**Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!** (_Eight Divination Sign Sixty-Four Palms Of The Hand_)

"Two!" Neji shouted as two fingers slammed in to the blond.

"Four!" Naruto snarled as the assault began in earnest. "Eight!"

"Sixteen!" His hands only blurs the Hyuuga prodigy turned his body to assault a different section of the body.

"Thirty Two!" It was now that something occurred to him and the Hyuuga prodigy realized that something was very wrong.

"Sixty Four!" His furious attack continued as his arms became nothing more than blurs. He struck and pushed chakra at each of the points he saw before he realized that pain had began to shoot back in to his own arms.

A startled gasp ripped free as his attack finished and he realized with his Byakugan enhanced sight that _none_ of the tenketsu he had attacked had been closed. He finished by slamming a palm in to the blond's chest intent on launching him away only for him to finalize realize that he had been hitting something solid the entire time.

His gaze snapped up from the chest the younger gennin's eyes.

Now the blond held the arrogant smirk.

"Your in the range of an ass whoppin."

What had followed next was a completely different experience for the Hyuuga prodigy. The blond slapped his hands together in a ram seal and his smirk widened. Neji watched in surprise as black markings suddenly spread across his skin before completely fading from view. He took the time to hop a few steps back for distance as he tried to figure out what had happened...

He didn't get far.

One shushin later and the blond was in his space before he delivered a right swing that was far _faster_ and far _stronger_ than anything he had delivered before. Neji deflected the blow away with a slap of the opposite hand but was unable to react fast enough to avoid the follow up knee to the side. He gasped as pain instantly began to spread from the point of origin before the right fist returned again and nailed him in the opposite side.

Instincts hardened by training and experience began to kick in as he sought to escape the blond's sudden assault. It was all for not though as he took another right to the stomach and a snap kick to the same abused side. Staggering back the Hyuuga prodigy preformed the strongest body flicker he could manage as he moved to put distance between them. And it worked, or so he thought, up to the point where the blond dropped to his knees instead of following and instead began to flick through hand seals faster than anything he had shown up to that point.

**Doton: Doryuu Heki!** (_Earth Release: Earth Style Wall_)

With his enhanced vision Neji saw the large wall suddenly sprout up from ground behind him. Mid shushin he barely had time to stop himself from going splat and paid the price when the chakra he had expelled in the opposite direction slammed back in to his own body. He winced and closed his eyes for a brief second as he tried to stop all his momentum.

More than enough time for Naruto to continue his work.

Three hand signs and a body flicker of his own later and the blond had covered half the distance between them before he thrusted both his hands with open palms at his opponent. Byakugan active Neji saw the build up of chakra seconds before the jutsu took effect.

**Fuuton: Reppushou!** (_Wind Release: Gale Wind Palm_)

The jutsu covered the distance between them in a flash. Neji was uprooted from his feet and thrown back with tremendous force before he was slammed in to the wall. His body seized up and the gennin coughed up a wad of blood as his midsection was abused. He slid down to his knees and fell on to his hands as his world twisted around him and a throb of pain began in the back of his head. Through sheer will power alone the Hyuuga gennin focused his vision enough to see what came next.

The three shadow clones covered the remaining distance between them with more of the same surprising speed. The older gennin forced his way to his feet as fast as he could and lashed out his left palm in an attempt to stop his attackers. It was a sloppy and useless gesture. The first clone that reached him slapped the hand down roughly as it flipped over him. Catching it's self against the wall using chakra coating it's hands it launched a mule kick in to his back that sent him sprawling back down and on to the ground.

Half a second later the clone had leaped down and falling on to his back as the two others slid to a stop on either side and grabbed each of his arms. Frustrated Neji could do nothing as the three clones each drew a kunai and placed the tips near his naked jugular. There was no more struggle. The older gennin with wide eyes deactivated his bloodline limit before his head fell over in shame.

He had been beaten.

"In the academy." Naruto shouted from the distance between them. "The clone jutsu was my worst skill. Three times I failed because I was unable to do it. But instead of letting it dictate how I should live I choose to keep on working." A smirk and a shake of his head. "Now it's one of my best. Don't let anyone tell you want you can and do or what you can or can't be."

He turned his attention to the awe struck examiner standing off to the side. "Well?"

The chunnin looked between the two of them and shook his head as he scoffed in disbelief.

With a hand raised to the sky he turned to the crowd around him and shouted the words the blond had longed to hear.

"Winner. Uzumaki Naruto!"

The roar of pure emotion that followed was sweeter than any ramen could ever be.

* * *

"He won!" Yamanaka Ino shouted in disbelief her facial expressions matched. "That idiot actually won!"

Haruno Sakura sat in equal disbelief as she looked down on to the arena floor below them. The abundance of noise around them keeping her thoughts from properly forming. Jaw dropped she watched as the clones dispelled and the proctor lowered the wall of earth that had erupted from the ground. Her eyes traced her own teammate's form as he walked over to the obnoxious orange cloak and reclaimed it as medic loaded his older opponent on to a stretcher to take away.

What in the **hell** did she just watch?

On her left side the strangely dressed gennin with crutches had gone wild with glee as his brown haired companion stared dumbly at the battlefield while muttering something under her breath. To her opposite side the brown haired male gennin had taken to simply shake his head with a smile as the puppy in his lap continued to yip and bark.

Still her brain refused to work.

He won? Her happy go lucky helpless teammate won?

Of course he did. That was what Naruto did. He overcame obstacles he he had no business even trying to take down. He defeated enemies who he should have never even challenged. He...

He won.

A smile split her face as the fact seemed to take root. He had won.

And for today that was more than enough.

"Way to go Naruto!"


	3. Assault On The Leaf Village Pt I

"Speech"

_'Thought_

Flashback **(())**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Because if I did I wouldn't have made Orochimaru a suddenly trustworthy guy._

* * *

A hard sigh slid past chapped lips. The obnoxious orange cloak that had been slung over his forearm had now been dropped on to the stone flooring. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his furiously beating heart. Slumping against the wall and leaning his head back. The rough texture of the concrete did not really cause discomfort for him. If anything the cool stone was a welcomed contradiction to the heat of the sun that had touched the back of his neck.

"Quite an impressive showing out there kid."

Naruto grinned but did not open his eyes. Instead he simply rolled his head sideways and rested his cheek against the concrete wall as he faced his head towards the man. Jiraiya began to decend the steps from the first landing towards the ground floor. His eyes focusing on the boy who stood against the wall. A small bead of surprise gleaming in his eyes.

"I had no idea that someone could learn so many techniques in such a short amount of time. Only a month and a half after all."

Naruto shrugged as he rolled his head back to the proper alignment. "We cheated."

Jiraiya stopped three steps from the boy's position. A frown of confusion lighting up his face as he regarded the gennin before him.

"Cheated?" He was forced to ask. "How? My seals?"

"Growth hormones." Naruto replied with another sigh as he raised his arms above his head and stretched. "Proteins and the like. Also used my chakra to forcefully rebuild my muscles over night to help recover from physical exertion. It's a counter to your seals that seemed to work rather well." He grinned. "To be honest we didn't come up with. He just noticed my muscle tone was seemingly getting larger by the day. I was always fresh for the next session and so we put two and two together and got-"

"The Kyuubi." Jiraiya nodded impressed but still confused."Isn't that a little dangerous though?" The sannin inquired. "My seals draining your chakra, then this drains your chakra, and your training. You would be wiped out every night."

"If I was a normal person." Naruto disagreed. "But I'm far from that. But I do sleep rather soundly at night."

"Still. With your exposure to the Kyuubi's chakra reserves rather limited right now-"

"Don't worry." Naruto reassured. "It was a one time thing due to the time restrictions. I won't need it any more. From here on out I'll grow physically on my own power."

"Ah. Good to hear. And the ninjutsu?"

"Shadow clones." Naruto explained to him. "That took up the largest bulk of my chakra daily to tell the truth. About twenty clones a day split up to working on two ninjutsu. Of course none of them are nowhere near the level of being mastered but I'm farther along than most my age would be. First I got to an above average level of chakra element manipulation, first half of my main three really, and that helped out to learn the ninjutsu. From there it was just repetitive work to get it battle ready. To be honest most of my time away from you was spent working on fixing my taijutsu and learning to keep track of faster opponents. That's how I was able to easily counter what he was doing when forced in to taijutsu encounters. Your little seal trick also helped me to keep up physically and helped my speed and strength."

"All of this along with summoning technique your learned?"

This time Naruto did open his eyes. Rolling his head back around to look at the sannin. A raised eyebrow.

"You know about that?"

"Yep." A grin of his own popping up. "Trying to keep it a secret?"

"I was." Naruto admitted. "After all it was you who forced the idea of keeping a few things out of the eye of the public."

"Of course I did." Nodding as if he was wise with chest puffed out. "A famous ninja is a soon to be dead ninja. People purposely develop counters for it. Like the Hyuuga boy did for your shadow clone usage. Pretty nice no seal use by the way. Mostly only jounin can pull that off. You've come a long way in a short time, short cuts or not."

"What can I say? I had good teachers."

"Of course." Jiraiya agreed. "Which reminds me. I'll be taking over your training after the tournament. Official transfer to me and all from team seven."

"Good. Was going to ask anyway." A shake of his head. "Can't deal with that drama holding me back anymore. You hear that now?" referring to the rowdy crowd back out on the field. "What are the odds his match will be postponed for him where it wouldn't be for anyone else?"

"Of course. What the people want they get on this particular occasion, despite if it's fair or not. And everyone was here to see the last Uchiha. The Kazekage especially." He paused here and looked back down the long hallway towards the slim light from the sun. "Which reminds me of something. Sensei told me to warn you to be on the look out for anything suspicious involving sand ninja."

Naruto frowned as he finally stood up from the wall. "He did? Is something going to happen?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Don't know for sure. But I know he's got the ANBU and all jounin level ninja on high alert. Your the only one under chunnin level he wants to let in on this. So just be ready for anything. And stick around the arena area."

Naruto blinked in surprise. Honored that he was being let in on this. "I'll do that. Does he expect something to come of it?"

"Again, don't know for sure. But he did say for you specifically to watch after the sand jinchuuriki." Another pause as something occurred to him. "By the way, how is your kekkei genkai work coming along? Did you work on what I was talking about before?"

Naruto frowned but nodded. "In what time I did before I turned in each night."

"How far along are you with those ninjutsu?" Jiraiya asked. Suddenly serious. So much so Naruto was slightly taken a back by the quick change of tension.

"I've got that little kunai and shuriken trick down well enough but I need something to do it with." Naruto answered. "And I'm sure I can recreate a defensive wall ninjutsu with it if I absolutely had too. I've also got one little technique I can use to supplement my taijutsu and defense." He grinned again. "Should have seen the look on his face when he realized he wasn't actual getting through. Shattered the defense with the pure chakra strike but it did it's job enough to keep me from harm."

"How about changing physical matter?" The sannin pressed on.

"I've done a little work with water. It's the same as with the technique. I can do it but would rather not have to. But I'm sure I can in a dire circumstance." A grin appeared. "I'm pretty good under pressure."

Jiraya grinned as well, another quick change in demeanor. "So I've noticed." A sigh of his own filling the air between them. "Any how I've got something to check on. Remember to be ready for anything." As he began to turn around.

"Will do." Giving a half wave a Jiraya began to climb the steps. "What about you?"

"Don't worry about me kid. Just be ready." He threw back over his shoulder.

Naruto shook his head as he reached down and grabbed his cloak.

"Right."

Be ready.

For what though?

* * *

STAGE 3

Assault On The Leaf Village

* * *

"He isn't coming." Inuzunka Kiba announced with a grin as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his head. Sakura turned around in her seat now one level down from him and frowned but said nothing to the contrary. Also thinking the same thing at this point. It wasn't like Sasuke to be late.

"I wonder where he is..." Yamanaka Ino muttered from beside her as she looked over the guard railing before them and on to the field below. They had taken the chance to move up when a group from wind country had gone for refreshments but hadn't come back. "He wouldn't miss this unless he had no choice. Do you think something's wrong?"

"You mean with his ego?" Kiba continued. Amusement evident in his voice. "Nope. Just grew even bigger if possible."

"Kiba-" Sakura began to admonish before something caught her attention. Her face suddenly brightening up. "Naruto! Over here!"

Kiba, and many of the other fans seated around them, turned around towards the top of the stairs. Low and behold there stood the before mentioned blond. Looking down at them from his casual position leaning against the back wall to that level of seating. Sakura stood up in her seat and waved at her teammate with a smile.

"Down here!"

The blond moved his eyes to her solely and regarded her with a look before he finally seemed to submit and leaned away from the wall. Walking slowly down the steps towards their position at the bottom row on this seating level. He ignored the looks of either venom or surprise as he walked along the way. Finally reaching their level where he looked quickly over the group. Most of them were from his school group with the exception of two who he knew had been on Neji's team. The female of the two stared at him with something he couldn't identify but didn't seem hostile.

"Sakura." He began with a slight smile. Slightly surprised at himself for his lack of an enthusiastic opening. "How have you been?"

"Great! Come sit down!" Looking so much more relieved than he had originally expected. He raised an eyebrow at the over the top reaction but did indeed sit on the farthest seat of the row. Turning his glance down to the field below them where the examiner was announcing the changes in the schedule.

_I was right. More favoritism._

"So Sasuke hasn't shown yet?" He commented casually. "That actually doesn't surprise me."

Sakura's excitement diminished some at his words. But still she could do nothing but shake her head in disappointment.

"No."

Naruto turned his attention back to her and noted her displeasure at being reminded but said nothing to take it back. Instead he choose to focus more on the other faces surrounding them. Hinata, Kiba, Ino, Lee, the girl he didn't know and Chouji. Shikamaru and Shino was most likely in the prepping room. It looked as if everyone were accounted for. Good, if anything did happen he would have everyone accounted for before hand.

"Who's next then?" Naruto questioned to the group in general. "If they're going to postpone Sasuke's match."

"Shino is supposed to fight that doll guy from sand." Kiba replied. "But I think he quit out even before your match."

"Which in turn leaves Shikamaru against the girl with that other guy dead." Naruto concluded. A frown spread across his face. "And he probably won't be up to fighting either. Which means it's right back again to Sasuke and Gaara."

"That is correct."

Naruto started slightly but turned his head calmly back to the stairs. Two up from Kiba's row a man with black hair and a slight scar over his left eye looked to him specifically. He appeared to be sizing Naruto up. Which put him on edge. The man was obviously a ninja from their village even if his clothing and lack of marking didn't show anything.

"It all goes back to young Sasuke holding things up. Something that is most displeasing." The man continued as he looked over the group of gennin before focusing back on the blond boy. "But that isn't why I've come here." A pause as he locked eyes with Naruto. "Uzumaki-san, I represent my clan who has wished to have a quick conversation with you. If you would?"

_Clan? _A flicker of recognition slid up. The man's clothing and more importantly his physical features. Dark hair and dark eyes. This man was one of the remaining Uchiha. And judging by his age, only twenty or so, he too had been a young when Uchiha Itachi had made his move and thus had been spared by the mad man. But why would he be looking for him. Despite the sudden sense of nervous tension around the group Naruto rose up from his seat and tied his cloak around his neck before nodding to the man. The Uchiha promptly took to turning around and walking back up the flight of stairs. Naruto shot the group a reassuring smile before he followed after the man.

_Let's see what this is all about._

* * *

"Hiruki."

The aged samurai turned his head to the side where the Daimyou of fire country sat. The country leader with his long black hair watched as the crowd outside of the press box began to argue angrily about the hold up in the matches. The chuunin exams had always been some of his favourite events but even he could not concentrate fully. Other things on his mind at this point.

"That was him." It had not be a question but a statement. Hiruki, dressed in his traditional samurai armor and with katana strapped to his side nodded his head.

"Yes. The fox demon container."

"Minato's child." The Daimyou continued on. His eyes glancing the left side of the stands where the boy had exited the field in hopes of finding a flash of tell-tale orange.

"Indeed sir." It had always been considered a tragic story in private settings around the palace. The long lost child of the first born son. Or rather instead of long lost it was more of the unwanted child. Everyone there knew the boy was in Konoha. But they did not know why he was kept there instead of with his family. They did not know of the burden he bore and his unrecognized parentage. Hiruki himself had many a times wondered what the boy had been like if he had indeed managed to survive the onslaught of negativity that the village was sure to throw at him.

Obviously he was doing more then just fine on his own. A strong child indeed just like his father had been.

"He has grown up in an interesting way." The Daimyou continued. "I've heard rumors about his attitude. The trouble he gets in too. Yet Sarutobi assured me in our meeting some weeks ago that he knew of the burden he bore. Tell me how someone can seem so happy and cheerful despite having everything against him."

Hiruki shrugged. "I don't know my lord. I myself would have went insane a long time ago. But ninja are masters of deception. Perhaps it is simply just a facade to hide his pain. A brilliant one at that."

"I wonder if he knows about his heritage."

"I assume he would." Hiruki answered. "I doubt Sarutobi would keep that sort of thing from him." The real question here was how he felt about it.

The Daimyou seemed to concur with this line of thinking. His memories pulled up the image of his young nephew who seemed to have passed on his unusual bright blond hair his son. This was all he had of his family now.

"I wish to meet him after the exam." It was finally time. For too long he had put it off. "Make it so for me."

Hiruki bowed. "Certainly my lord."

* * *

The luxury boxes of the stadium were indeed something to behold. Closed of completely from those around them save for the small opening between the room and the floor that served as the viewing window. Naruto stepped in to the room and began to glance around. Three people. Two adult and one teen. Along with two ANBU guards standing outside the door who had no doubt been visible for extra security. The man who had led him in took a seat near the opening in the wall as the crowd began to suddenly roar. A quick glance outside before he nodded to the women seated next to him.

"Sasuke has arrived."

The woman didn't say anything but instead nodded before turning her attention on to Naruto. He stood still despite the nervous energy that was running through him. Naruto didn't do nervous very well. It made him twitchy. Twitchy Naruto was bad Naruto. Clumsy Naruto.

"So you are Sasuke's teammate?" The woman finally spoke. She was dressed in a rather fine kimono and had her black hair rolled up in a bun. Despite her delicate appearance Naruto could feel the nervous energy she projected as current clan leader. No doubt she had simply been found to be next up after the massacre. Sasuke would probably be the rightful heir.

"Yes. He's my teammate." Naruto replied quietly as he tried to focus his attention away from the sounds outside. His eyes locked on to the woman's. Now that he had the chance to look more on to her he could tell she was a civilian. That made him think about just how many ninja the Uchiha clan had left. The man was obviously one. And the other girl? A quick glance over to her. She was indeed wearing the proper gear and a chunnin vest. Also a ninja. But Sasuke made it seem as they're weren't even this many Uchiha left. Let alone those serving as village ninja.

"He has spoken of you several times before." She continued. Her voice light. "He seems to hold you in high regard." As if on cue another loud roar from the crowd rang out. No doubt the home favorite was doing okay.

This was an honest surprise. Naruto's face went blank as he blinked. Sasuke thought of him as a rival? Sure he had said that too the Uchiha boy many a time before. He still never thought that the idea would be shared between the two of them. To think Sasuke had always considered him a benchmark. But why was the real question.

"I wanted to ask you if you knew where he would be. But that seems useless now. Considering who your jounin-sensei is I can see why he was so delayed in getting here. It's a good thing they allowed for extra time though. It would reflect badly on the clan if our future leader didn't even turn up to the finals of his very first chunnin exams. And that is something we can't afford to have right now."

Naruto remained silent as he stood unsure of what to say. He could understand her point though.

"With that said I must admit I find you very interesting Uzumaki-san. Sasuke made sure to note you several times as a ninja with very little real skill despite an obvious amount of potential. And yet you certainly didn't show little skill in that match of yours. Curious. But that is a situation for another time. I'm sure you'd rather be with your last teammate on cheering on Sasuke at this moment." As if to reinforce her point the entire crowd outside took a stunned gasp as a collective.

"Yes ma'am." Naruto answered truthfully. The situation was very unnerving for him and he would indeed much rather be down watching Sasuke's match if for no other reason then to scout both of his possible opponents for the next round of fighting.

"Then I suppose I should let you go. But we will meet again gennin Uzumaki."

Her words were a promise instead of a suggestion. Again Naruto choose the smart thing and stayed quiet.

"Go on then. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

Naruto bowed at the waist before he turned and exited the room as one of the ANBU guards held the door open. Slowly releasing a pent up sigh once he had been a safe distance away. That had been far harder then he thought it would be but in the end it was nothing that he couldn't handle. Still it would probably be a good idea to have Jiraiya teach him a little bit about politics...

He blinked. Feathers? What was with the feathers?

Crap. Genjutsu.

* * *

In all honesty, as foolish as it sounded, Sakura had forgotten just how famous her jounin-sensei was. The mission to the wave village had been well over a half a year ago now. And before that she had simply seen the masked ninja as a competent if lazy shinobi. And despite the level of combat he had shown on the way to the now legendary bridge she had again began to see the man as a lazy but skilled shinobi. Gone was the awe that had resounded through her bones as the A-ranked nuke-nin spoke of her teacher in such a respectful manner.

But she was quickly reminded of just who the copy ninja was.

The genjutsu had been overcame and she shook her head as she rose from her seat. The world all around her already in chaos as hidden ninja from both sides began to clash amongst the civilians. Beside her Ino and Choji had been knocked unconscious with Kiba and Hinata were no where in sight having walked away from the seat several minutes before. Lee and his teammate had also been sent under and Shikamaru had simply fallen where he had been coming down the stairs to meet greet them.

Her breath hitched in her throat as a suna chuunin suddenly appeared before her with hand already in mid kunai swipe. Kakashi came through the air like a hawk with a meal in sight, his speed far outclassing even her chance to breath. The chunnin had slipped back down and over the railing and on to the stands below with a slit throat. Kakashi twirled the kunai along his right index finger before stopping it in a stabbing grip. His one eye quickly scanning the area behind her before it locked on to hers. The hard look in his eye was an even greater reminder of the kind of shinobi her sensei really was. A killer through and through who had made his name in a time during war.

This was not chaos to him. It was a day at the beach.

"Sakura, where's Naruto?" His voice was tight and controlled despite the seriousness of the situation around them. She swallowed hard and forced her eyes away from the carnage and mayhem around them. Instead focusing on her jounin-sensei and struggled to find her voice.

"I-I don't know." To even her own surprise a hand darted down and removed a single kunai of from the pouch strapped to her thigh before it began to hold it steady in what had just a second earlier been a shaking left hand. "A member of the Uchiha clan came about five minutes before you got here. I think they wanted to ask him where you and Sasuke were."

This obviously was not the answer her teacher wanted to hear. His brow creased and his mask tightened around the lower half of his face. Displeasure clearly written in his lone eye's gaze. Sakura forced herself to ignore Gai's shouts of 'Dynamic power!' and focus her attention on the task at hand. What should she do? It came to her and she began to move again before she could stop herself. She leaned over to the side and focused her flow of chakra in to her friend's body. Ino's eyes slowly fluttered open as the girl had already moved on to the next gennin. Kakashi watched this with half attention as his mind began to race.

"S-Sakura?" The Yamanaka heiress began before her mind caught up with the situation. She nearly squeaked in surprise but quickly rose to her feet. "What's going on?!"

"Sand and sound are attacking us." The pink haired girl answered as she moved to Chouji. Again surprised by how calm she sounded. Even amongst the chaos around her she managed to keep a cool head. It's what Sasuke and Naruto would have done. "Help me to wake the others-"

"Damn it!" Kakashi sudden outburst stopped her hand short of the round gennin. Her eyes head snapping around as her eyes darted towards where his head was pointed. A sinking feeling forming in the pit of her stomach as she watched her crush rush after the trio of sand gennin through a hole in the arena wall. "This is not good. Not good at all."

"Sensei." She began before she could stop herself short. "Where is Sasuke-kun going?"

"To his death." The jounin replied grimly as he tightened his grip on his kunai. "Sabuka no Gaara is... This isn't good. He was no doubt the sand's trump card in this little operation. And now he's run off to regain control of his mental prowess. If he comes back it's going to mean bad bad news for us. But there's nothing to be done now. And Sasuke will be fighting three on one. Not to mention I have no idea if Naruto is dead or not!"

"He's not dead!" Sakura found herself blurting out as Ino took over for her and reawakened her teammate. "I saw Naruto before sensei. During the exam." She swallowed as she stood back to full height and gave her jounin-sensei a look of determination that she was not even sure she could make. "Naruto has always been an idiot. But he's always been able to take care of himself! And he's gotten good! Really, really good! He beat that Neji guy with only a little trouble! I know he's around here somewhere fighting!"

Kakashi seemed to take these words to heart despite the ever growing frown on his face. In a flash of hand movement the jounin used the tip of his kunai to prick his finger and formed a few hand seals before he slammed his hand on to the ground. In a puff of smoke a small dog appeared complete with a little hitai-ate. It would have been rather cute if the situation had not been so dire. It shook it's little head before turning it's attention back to the jounin.

"Yo Kakashi!" It glanced around before it's maw made what looked like a frown. "You piss someone off or something? What's with all the fighting going on around here?"

"Suna and Oto are attacking us Pakkun. I need you to take Sakura, Ten-Ten, and Shikamaru after Sasuke. I'll find Naruto and send him after you as soon as I can. Can you do that?"

The little pug suddenly became serious and raised it's paw in a salute. "Can do." It turned it's body around and looked to Sakura and the now busted Shikamaru who grumbled as he rose off the ground. "Come on kids. We don't have all day. Follow me unless you want to stay here and die."

The two gennin exchanged quick glances before nodding their consent. The little dog began to scurry away. Hopping on the railing and running off with the two gennin in tow. Kakashi watched them go for a moment before he turned his attention back to the last two gennin capable of movement.

"Come on!" He ordered to them. "We have to find Naruto."

* * *

It was unnaturally surreal in it's nature. He had been up against overwhelming odds before and had refused to back down. He had chosen to stand where most others would have rather cowered in fear. But still each time for his brave speeches and bold declarations the panic that had run through his body was a constant reminder that he could die at any moment. That he would die at any moment for even being out there.

This was nothing like that.

For as many more experienced and high level enemy ninja that assault the arena he could not bring himself to feel any panic. Instead an unnatural sort of calm seemed to descend over him. And as he slipped past punches, ducked kunai, and dodged ninjutsu the words of the old Hokage brought themselves back to the forefront.

_"It's not always the shinobi with the fastest hands or even the biggest brain that wins the battle. But rather in my experience I find it the one with the greatest will and the most experience that wins. And when you add to the fact that you have the devil's luck like you my boy..."_

Indeed, lady luck had somewhere along the way willingly become Naruto's bitch. And it showed now more then ever. He may not have nearly been in as many battles as these other shinobi have been. But he for sure at least been in more outmatched battles. Battles where he should have died a long time ago but still found a way to preserve. Being on the lower end of the scale had become sort of a constant to him. But now that he had some actual skill to go along with his luck...

_"_God damned Brat!"

He would more than make due.

Naruto spun around as the suna chuunin descended on to him. The man had launched himself in to the air with a kunai extended for the kill, aiming for the throat. But to Naruto's eyes he moved like a snail through water. Naruto had seen the likes of Momochi Zabuza and Hatake Kakashi battle on the waves of the sea. He had seen the awe inspiring speed of the legendary snake sannin as he ran circles around every thing they threw at him. He had seen the pure brute power of Rock Lee's celestial gates. He had seen an incredibly long list of ninjutsu from the old toad pervert. And most importantly he had seen the technical mind and jutsu combinations of the man who had once been regarded as the 'Professor Of Shinobi'.

Compared to those feats and ninja anyone that stepped up to kill him was nothing more then a nuisance despite how much skill and experience they had at their disposal.

The blond stepped forward and grasped the man's bicep as he fell. Turning and launching the man over his shoulder. His hands moving in ways that they had never before as they reached down and whipped free one shuriken each. The two ninja stars hit dead on, one in the head and the other in the chest. He was dead before he had even finished hitting the round. Naruto didn't even care to look though. This was the third one he had killed. And most surely wouldn't be the last.

He knew luck had more than something to do with the fact that he hadn't come up against any major threat like an enemy jounin. But he was not one to complain in this situation. He simply focused on trying to stay alive and help as best as he could.

Like a well practiced ball room dance the boy flashed forward in to a myriad of movement. Adrenaline and confidence propelling him in ways that he had never even dreamed of reaching in actual combat. A kunai in each hand as he dipped low past one of his fallen comrades. He was on the sound ninja before he could even comprehend he had defeated his first opponent. Right hand firmly grasping the kunai by the handle and jabbing it forward. The sharp iron easily slid through the muscle tissue in the front of the throat. Always aim high. That's what Jiraiya had taught him.

A short tug pulled the knife free before the man even began to reach for the wound. And in the nick of time as he pushed of with the tips of his sandals and propelled himself in a hop backwards and out of the path of three shuriken. He stuck his right foot back and pivoted his body in that direction. The next sound ninja was barreling down on his with right arm outstretched, a gauntlet like Dosu had worn attached to the forearm. The blond had already seen this movie before and wasn't in the mood for re-runs. He bent his knees and kicked forward in one swift movement. The speed catching even him shortly by surprise as he slammed his two knives forward, hitting home in the man's rib cage before he could even begin to swing his arm. They fell in a heap with Naruto leaning over him. Another tug and both knives pulled free of the bone and blood. He was stepping on to his feet again and moving on to the next one before the man could even begin to cough up blood.

And so it continued like this for a while. No ninjutsu and very little taijutsu. He ducked, bobbed, weaved, hopped, slid, juked, and sidestepped around everything they sent at him. Calm and collected giving way eventually to fierce and calculated. Although he could not see it his eyes had taken on hard edge as they narrowed to see past each attack. A few had managed glancing blows on him, one sound attack even getting to him. He stumbled along but kept his footing. Dashing to the side to dodge the follow up. He cut that man's throat too. It wasn't long before the body count began to pile up. Five. Six. Eight. Twelve. He was a possessed man. A demon of the battle field. And the sand ninja began to notice. And the sound ninja began to notice. And the leaf ninja began to notice.

_"_**Hakke Kuushou**_!" (Eight Divination Signs Air Palm)_

He finally stopped moving and crouched low as he let one of his kunai finally go. Embedded in the back of one ninja's head. His eyes darted to the left and then the right. Hyuuga Neji had apparently joined the fight on his left. Another Hyuuga, a man, to his right. He exchanged brief glances with both of them before his eyes moved to another downed body. A sand ninja weakly squirming. Apparently the Hyuuga gennin had held back on the strength of that technique during their match up.

"Uzumaki." Came the curt greeting as the Hyuuga prodigy took a step backwards with arms up.

"Hyuuga." Naruto returned to both the elder and younger. He stood to his feet and replaced the last kunai in to the pouch at his side. Noting for the first time the amount of blood caked on to his hand and cloak. Still he ignored it. The time for disgust would come later. Right now they had developed a little crowd. About seven sand and four sound surrounding them. Each looking to avenge a comrade.

Three. Two. One.

Zero.

**"Katon: Dai Endan!"** _(Fire Release: Great Fireball.)_

The large fireball caught even the three leaf ninja off guard. It rolled past them and over those in their vision. About eight of the ninja were roasted alive. Screams of tournament even finally enough to make Naruto flinch in response. Before the last few could move they were also dead. Three shuriken perfectly passed between the eyes of each of them.

The three leaf ninja watched this all occur. Dumb founded.

"Yo Gaki!"

They turned as one to their backside. Naruto blinking in surprise at the sight of the overgrown orange toad. It croaked loudly as the sannin jumped down. A no nonsense expression on his face despite the cheerful greeting.

"Come with me kid. We're going in to the village to do work."

The blond gennin looked surprised by the claim but nodded his understanding. Taking a step forward before he nodded his head to either Hyuuga before he leaped on to the toad. Jiraiya joined him and gave both ninja mock salute before the toad suddenly jumped off. With both master and pupil in toad.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi scowled as he took a single step back to avoid his charging opponent. Behind him the two gennin of team ten stood with wide eyes and sweating palms as they each tightly clutched a kunai. They watched as the jounin-sensei of team seven calmly evaded his newest challenger before a simple academy bushin allowed him to slip past the man's guard and slam a knife up to the hilt in to his spinal column.

That had been the tenth enemy combatant to rush his little trio in the past five minutes. It was getting frustrating to say the least. All around the group battles raged out on to the street as the evading sound and sand forces clashed with the home team of the leaf. His single eye glanced about the chaos around him and noted with pride that the Konoha ninja were more than holding there own. Even with the advantage of surprise the invaders could not get a strong foothold.

With that in mind Kakashi's thoughts turned back to the task at hand. It was imperative that he join the village defense, but at the same time he had a personal duty to uphold. Than there was the fact that he just sent three young gennin against a force they couldn't possibly match up against, but there was nothing he could do at this point. The only chance they had was for the assault to be repelled before the ninja of the leaf could turn their attention to the possible threat the sand container posed.

And the best way he could see them surviving in the mean time was to stick together.

_Where the hell are you Naruto?_ He thought as his gaze scanned the battlefield for any sign of orange.

The hard and cruel shinobi in him said, with cold logic, that his last gennin was long dead. Genjutsu had never been Naruto's strong point and so his first thought was one of the boy falling prey to the opening attack. In that likely scenario the best he could hope for was that someone had taken pity on the boy and left him lying asleep on the cold stone floor of the arena. An idea that was all but dashed when he had checked the surrounding area.

The _leaf_ shinobi in him however had a different view of things. It saw the fierce emotion reflected in his young kuniochi's eyes and found hope in her words. Perhaps Ebisu had managed to teach his young gennin something worth of value. He would readily admit that he himself was only a marginal teacher but where he could easily fail a man like that could no doubt get through to a boy as wild as Naruto.

Maybe, just maybe, Naruto had learned enough from the strange special jounin that he had been able to avoid the opening genjutsu and was instead managing to survive around the makeshift battlefield using his natural cunning. Perhaps the young gennin in question had learned to properly use his shadow clones to maximize their potential on the battlefield. Or at the very least used the clones as decoys to aid his fellow leaf shinobi as he himself made it to safety.

It was that thought that kept the veteran jounin going.

With that in mind the man noticed something that could help him. Across a particularly brutal stretch of combat he saw a beacon of hope. It was the Hyuuga boy, Neji, who had been slated to fight said previously mentioned gennin and with him stood the Hyuuga clan head. He watched as the two combined to form a brutal tag team with the elder more experienced shinobi delivering harsh and brutal blows that disabled the victim long enough for the younger to finish them with precision.

The jounin frowned as he turned around to look back at the two gennin he had in tow. They had calmed down considerably in the time they had been out in the field and were now looking around at the fighting that surrounded them with less apprehension. He had no idea what kind of training Sarutobi Asuma had given his two young charges but knowing what he did of the man he would not be surprised if it was even more of a let down than what he had imparted on to his two lesser talented gennin. Asuma, while a good shinobi, was a naturally lazy person. With each of his young gennin coming from clans with re-noun and the path for their personal development clear Kakashi could easily see a scenario in which the other jounin simply allowed for the three ninja in training to focus on the techniques each of their families provided while he simply taught them the bare minimum of what was required.

It was a sad thought. Even more so when he figured that was pretty much what he had been doing.

_Note to self._ He thought as he turned his attention back to his surroundings. _When this is over i'm going to work my own gennin to the bone._

But that was for another time. Right now his best bet at finding out the fate of his last young shinobi was across an expanse of pure violence. One he had to navigate while safe guarding the lives of two other less skilled and less experienced ninja. It would be difficult to say the least and would require a fair amount of skill to make sure everyone got out of this safe and in one piece. With that train of thought fixed the jounin calmly reached his right hand up and pushed his forehead protector to the side. His now open red eye instantly began to help him analysis the situation at hand.

Yes it would be difficult but luckily for them he wasn't called the copy ninja for the sake of it being catchy. With a deep breath the leaf jounin turned his attention back to the young ninja that had followed him this far.

"Listen up!" He barked and immediately regretted it as the two gennin jumped at the tone of his voice. "Were about to get in to some heavy fighting so I need for you to do what ever I say!"

The two gennin nodded as they stared at his mismatched eyes with their own wide. He ignored it as he gestured with his head to the dense fighting up ahead of them before he once again glanced around them to make sure the area was still clear enough for him to speak.

"Were going to be going over there to the front of that shopping area. The Hyuuga clan head is there and may need some help. After we secure that section i'll be asking for his help in finding Naruto. It shouldn't be a problem at all for him to hunt Naruto down using his kekkei genkai. But in order for this to work I need to make sure you two are safe. That means you'll have to stay with me at all times so that I can protect you. Got it?"

They nodded their understanding as they glanced in the direction he had motioned in before. The boy, the Akimichi, grimaced at the sight of it. However, Kakashi's surprise, the young Yamanaka simply took a deep breath before she gripped the kunai in her hand tighter. Maybe he had done her a disservice in writing her off as simply another fan girl pretending to be a ninja.

Maybe there was hope for them yet.

"All right. Let's go!" Kakashi declared as he set out at a brisk pace with the two gennin in a trailing position. With any luck the Hyuuga clan head could help locate the wayward blond. And at the very least he could tell him if his gennin had been cut down or not.

* * *

"Go Gaki! Go!"

Naruto ignored the shout from the white haired shinobi as he leaped from his position on top of the toad summon. Flashing through a series of three seals mid air the blond touched down before instincts drove him to the left in a roll across the ground. He stopped on one knee before he turned his attention back to where the shuriken that had nearly skewered him had came from. He turned his palm to the rapidly approaching sound kunoichi.

**Fuuton: Daitoppa!** _(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)_

The chakra infused gust rushed across the distance and slammed head on in to the approaching ninja. To her credit she was prepared for the attack and crossed her arms to shield her face as chakra had her firmly anchored to the ground instead of uprooted like the blond had initially hopped for. Still he made due with what he had and launched forward in to a body flicker. He came out of chakra transit and slid to a stop beside her as he kicked up dirt in his wake.

The kuniochi reacted with instant violence as her hands snapped off a quartet of senbon at close range. The blond shifted his body and grimaced as the metal needles entered in to his body but didn't stop in his movement. Before her arms could begin to pull back he had entered her space with the force of a hurricane. A strong hook with the left hand nearly leveled her as he transitioned it in to a spinning elbow with the right. His opponent fell with her bell rung and he dropped his right knee in to her stomach as he pulled free the blood stained kunai and slammed it in to her throat in the same motion.

He leaped away from the already dying body as the toad sage hopped down to join him. He glanced at the now dead sound ninja in surprise before his face hardened. He gave the blond a measured look before he nodded in what seemed like appreciation before he gestured with a hand to the new wounds the blond sported. Naruto reached up with slightly shaking hands to each opposite shoulder before he pulled them free with a savage yank that surprised even him. The red hot pain that flowed through the points of entry would have made most grimace. Not him.

Besides, he had taken far worse from the needles before.

"Those poisoned?" Jiraiya inquired as he gave a quick search around them. There were no enemies around them right now. No doubt the sight of the giant toad that had began to wreak havoc on the invaders was more than enough of an indicator as to who they were actually dealing with.

Naruto looked at the blood stained tips of the metal spikes before his now highly sensitive nose twitched. The toad sage watched fascinated as the blond sniffed them before tossing them to the ground with a shake of his head.

"Don't think so. Didn't smell like anything but blood." The blond replied as he rolled his shoulders in an attempt to mitigate the pain. "Not going to slow me down anyway."

The sannin shook his head. "Answers like that are what get you killed kid." He chided the young shinobi before him. To his surprise the small blond met his gaze head on.

"If I die defending the village I died doing something useful right? Or at least that's what they say." The gennin challenged with defiance clear in his eyes.

The man opened his mouth to reply before he closed it. True, that was what they said. And it's what was expected of him as a Konoha shinobi no matter how much he claimed to hate this place. At least he was able to remember that much. But even still...

"Naruto." The sannin began as pinned him with his stare. "Don't let anyone tell you your not a damn Konoha shinobi. You've more than proven your worth on this day. No matter what you choose to do with your life be proud of what you've accomplished here and now as you fought and risked death along with your comrades."

The blond was surprised by the words. Unable to say anything in response he simply stared back at the man. That seemed to be more than enough as Jiraiya smiled at his new student before he nodded as if finding something he had been looking for.

"I'm going to go up to the tower and see if I can't do something about that barrier Orochimaru has erected to keep the old man trapped. In the mean time just keep doing what you've been doing kid. Remember what we taught you and you'll be fine." The smile widened. "You've more than proved you can handle your own."

"Good luck." It was all that he said before he body flickered away and left the blond on his own. Naruto stared at the spot the sage had just vacated for a few seconds longer before his eyes flickered around to their surroundings again. With a deep breath the blond pulled his cloak closer to his body before he took off in to the direction of the closest combat he could hear.

The toad sage was right. He had more than proved his worth on this day.

Now he had to make sure everyone knew it.


	4. Assault On The Leaf Village Pt II

**"**Speech"

_'Thought_

Flashback **(())**

Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto in anyway shape or form. Because if I did I probably wouldn't be writing Naruto fanfiction. It was just be regular Naruto._

AN: I just want to take this time to thank everyone for reading my story and giving me feed back. I know I'm not great at this writing thing and have a few errors each chapter but I'd like to think I've come a long long way from where I was at the beginning.

To clarify I haven't abandoned any of my stories. The only one I've gotten rid of is was Whispers In The Dark. The reason being is that I wanted to incorperate some of that in to this re-write. As you've seen with the title change of the Uzumaki Clan I plan to do a re-write of that as well considering how things have changed.

To be honest I've got about two chapters of that potential re-write already nearing the end. But I want to take a little more time to read over it and make changes before I post it. And there is a good chance that I may change it completely to make it all more clear. I have a thing for slightly confusing opening sequences that seem to make everyone angry.

As for this chapter I decided to cut it short. I also have a problem with always trying to make a chapter around 10,000 words and now that I've thought more on it I realize that more isn't always better. As such I've decided to break some things down. Again a lot of my original writing changes as I type it up and read over it. Just finding ways to always improve.

Again, thanks for reading.

* * *

The sound shinobi was dead before his mouth even opened to scream. Hatake Kakashi watched the body drop to the ground in front of him with a mixture of a disappointment and annoyance. These Oto shinobi were quite frankly pathetic. They had no real tactics and did a horrible job adjusting the few strategies they did have during real-time combat. What they had in numbers they lacked in actual skill. They fell painfully easy and had no real differences in terms of ability. They were the exact definition of cannon fodder soldiers.

_Sounds like Orochimaru. _He thought as his arm shot forward in to a savage right jab that broke an approaching ninja's nose.

The battle however had still been raging on for over two hours already due to the sand shinobi scattered about. Although the Suna ninja did not have the sheer numbers the Oto troops boasted they instead made up for that with actual skill. They were organized and efficient. Many used debilitating poisons and their natural wind ninjutsu affinity made them the perfect counters to the many fire jutsu users Konoha deployed.

In short a battle that should have been very easy was instead very difficult.

Kakashi tossed aside his newest kill as he stepped forward to meet his current objective. The two Hyuuga clan members had also finished with their last group of opponents. The jounin's mis-matched eyes took in the form of the younger of the two panting and sweating. If what the people said about the exam had been true the fact that this boy was able to stand let alone fight said volumes about his strength of will. And judging by the way he had handled himself despite having to be exhausted and bruised the jounin could easily see where he gained the title of genius.

And Naruto was supposed to have some how beaten him?

The older of the two turned to face him as he approached with the two young gennin he had been escorting trailing behind him. In comparison to his younger companion the Hyuuga clan head was a picture of calm in even this time of crisis. His long hair was still in perfect condition and the only way you could even tell he had been in a battle was by the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. He carefully stepped around the dead bodies around him as he met the copy ninja half way.

"Hatake-san." He greeted with a slight nod of his head before his eyes moved to the two gennin behind him. "And company."

"Hyuuga-sama." The jounin responded with a slight bow of respect. "I come to you in need of your help. I need-"

"My Byakugan." The man cut in. "To find your gennin. Uzumaki Naruto."

Kakashi frowned before he slowly nodded his head. "You know of my request?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out." The man replied. "As a jounin-sensei one of your first thoughts should be focused on the safety of the young ninja in your command. To be honest I would think less of you if you hadn't been looking for him. And as luck will have it I did see your gennin not long ago."

"You did?" Kakashi latched on a something in his stomach had loosened. Naruto was still alive. "Is he well?"

The Hyuuga clan head snorted. "More than well. He felled several of the bodies in this area himself."

The jounin blinked his discolored eyes before he took a moment to turn his head to the area around him. Naruto had been fighting out here? And succeeding? The idea alone was staggering. Just what the hell had Ebisu taught him?

"He assisted you?" He asked cautiously. The man nodded.

"Yes. And did a fairly good job of it. You train your gennin well."

"Um... Thank you?" The jounin said still stupefied. "Did you see where he went from here?"

The Hyuuga nodded again. "Yes. We were about to engage a group when they were all cut down before any of us could move. Than the boy was pulled away and taken to another area. To where I presume another part of the battle had been going on."

"Taken?" The jounin questioned. "Taken by who?"

"I believe it was Jiraiya-sama." The Hyuuga responded. "He's the only one I know who can use toads as a summon."

Kakashi stood dumbfounded the for the third time in the last few minutes. Jiraiya? The sannin was here in the village? And had taken _his_ gennin off somewhere to help with the fighting? What the hell?

"They seemed to know each other. He called for Uzumaki and the boy went without question. Then they left with the toad due east. I believe that's where the bulk of the fighting has been going on."

Kakashi forced his lower jaw shut before he nodded slowly. "Thank you for you assistance." He didn't know what else he could say.

"It is of no problem. But I must ask if you've seen Yuhi Kurenai anywhere?" The man inquired.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, she stayed along at the arena to better protect the civilians." A thought occurred to him. "I believe both your daughters were among those that were being escorted away to safety."

Something passed by in the man's eyes that Kakashi assumed was relief.

"Thank you jounin Hatake." He nodded his thanks to the man.

"It is no trouble Hyuuga-san. Now if you'll excuse me I have to find my gennin."

"Good luck to you." The man said as his eyes took on the unique bulging veins of his kekkei genkai.

Kakashi said nothing as he set off in towards the east without even checking to see if the two gennin he had been with were following along. Jiraiya had taken Naruto away? And knew him personally? It occurred to him that perhaps the man had heard enough about the boy or had seen him during the exams and had wanted to make sure he was safe. Maybe he had moved Naruto away to a shelter so that he wouldn't be hurt? Or maybe they had met at the ramen bar the blond frequented?

_Or maybe_. Kakashi started as a thought form. _Just maybe Ebisu hadn't been the one teaching my gennin at all._

That was another idea, one that made more sense the more he thought about it. Never the less he wouldn't get any answers here. The best thing for him to do would be for him to get the story from the source. So with that in mind he took to the roof tops and dashed off to the center of the battle.

* * *

The gust of wind ripped across the rooftops tearing shingles apart as it roared by. The blond had been moving long before the jutsu had even been completed. A quick step back left the young gennin with nowhere to place his feet. And so he fell down in to the alley way between the two building. As his fellow leaf shinobi were blasted away he landed in a crouch between the buildings before he dashed out in to the open streets.

Chaos still reigned supreme around the leaf village as the invading forces pressed the attack. Naruto had long since lost track of how long he had been fighting. His cloak had been ripped apart by an enemy ninjutsu long ago and fatigue had began to seep in to his bones. Even he, with the Uzumaki clan's famed vitality, wouldn't be able to keep this up all day.

And yet still like the leaf forces he pushed onward, repelling attacks everywhere he could. The sound ninja came in waves with metal and technology at their disposal while the sand forces came by the dozen with experience and skill to their name. It didn't matter. All of them fell beneath the might of the leaf village. It was become more and more obvious.

The sand and sound coalition wouldn't be winning this fight.

_That won't stop them from trying though_. And he didn't necessarily blame them. He knew he would fight to the end no matter how hopeless the cause was. He could at least respect their determination.

That didn't mean he had to take it easy on them.

He came across another group locked in combat. Three sand ninja and two from sound up against three of his own. The leaf chunnin were being forced back slowly as the combined forces continued to catch them off guard. Still they fought on in the face of defeat. The blond winced as one took a kunai to the thigh before he was swarmed under a wave of shuriken.

It was time to go to work.

One deep breath later and a flurry of shuriken had flickered from his hands before a single seal changed them in to a storm. The leaf ninja had seen him coming and had moved out of the path of the stars long before that. In response the three sand ninja also evacuated quickly along with one of the sound shinobi. The last, a sound kuniochi, wasn't so lucky. Her back had been peppered with the metal before she could even figure out what had brought about the abrupt movement. A lucky flick to the back of the head insured she was dead long before she knew what had happened.

The remain sound ninja hand turned and met his advanced with one of the sand in his trail. The blond focused on to the two and rushed forward to meet them. The sand shinobi over took his comrade with ease and reached the blond first. He was tall and long with a curtain of cloth covering his face. In two seconds the blond had determined important things about his opponent in ways he never before would have imagined. He wanted taijutsu to use his length and strength.

So Naruto would give it to him.

With a flash of chakra a fierce burning sensation spread across his skin as the seals the toad sage had grafted on to him released. A sigh of relief slipped past his lips as his muscles unclenched and his chakra coils unraveled a deep within his body. It was a dangerous seal, one the man had said came from his long lost clan. Used to train the body to thrive by increasing the difficulty of movement and increase the strain of channelling chakra. If applied wrong it could kill a man. If sealed wrong it could suffocate a man. If released wrong it would _blow up_ a man. He had taken much of his time to make sure none of the three options happened to Naruto.

The blond had taken them to heart. No one wanted to end up a human bomb.

With a shift of his weight the boy pushed off the tips of his feet and exploded forward with nearly double his previous speed. The sand shinobi blinked in surprise before experience forced his body to compensate for the blond's sudden increase in movement. His arms raised up in to a cross block as the blonde leapt up and threw a kick towards his chest. Using the block as a base the gennin pushed off in to a backflip and forced his opponent off balance.

He landed in a crouch as the sound shinobi rushed past his comrade. the blond forced himself back in to a roll to avoid the burst of shuriken that proceeded the newest threat. He was back up on to his feet with a wide base by the time the sand ninja reached him. He ducked under a swing and twirled his body to the side to avoid the follow up knee before he dropped back down to the ground. Using his hands to balance the blond extended his right leg before he preformed a text book leg sweep that dropped his opponent to his knees.

Movement out the corner of his eye forced the blond to evade rather than strike his downed opponent. He fell completely forward on to his stomach as the minor wind ninjutsu tore through the air. The edges of the technique ripped at his clothing and back and the gennin was forced to bite his lower lip in an effort to keep from crying out. By the time the ninjutsu was done the sound ninja that had been on the ground next to him had regained his footing. A single cross seal later and a kage bushin was used to replace him as a kunai was slammed in to his back.

Wincing as the memory reached him the blond created another single from his position behind an over turned stall before five hand seals allowed him to nearly silently sink in to the road. With a surge of chakra he moved the earth and stone from his path as he traveled underneath the battle ahead. Using the vibrations as a guide he found his target and pulled himself free at the same momentum his clone knocked his opponent to the ground.

**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu**. (_Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation)_

His hands wrapped around the sound shinobi before he even knew what had happened. Another burst of chakra pulled his target down as he rose. The blond pulled his feet free as the sound ninja had been buried up to the neck. A single motion of the hand pulled one of the blond's few remaining kunai before he rotated his shoulders and used the downward momentum to slam the blade in to the skull.

"Double suicide." The blond announced as he leaped away to avoid more shuriken. He landed and immediately substituted with his clone as a second wind jutsu came bearing down on to him. A body flicker later had closed the gap between them while the blond flipped through a flash of his own seals.

**Fuuton: Reppushou**. _(Wind Release: Gale Wind Palm)_

The two waves of wind chakra slammed in to the unprepared Suna shinobi. He was launched from his feet and sent end over end as the powerful dual stream struck him clean in the chest. Movement to the side stop the blond's follow up attack short and he instead too the time to watch as the remaining wind from the technique caught the small stream of fire and expanded it with oxygen. The newly formed fireball caught the sand shinobi by the team he hit the ground.

Forcing himself to ignore the horrible smell of burning flesh and the screams of death Naruto instead turned his attention to the two other leaf ninja in the area. They seemed to give him a long measured look before both nodded in his direction and took off. The blond remained standing for only one second longer before he too moved towards the roof tops...

Only to be hit head on by a full powered wind ninjutsu.

The attack threw him through the air and through a nearby window. Glass and pain were all that he could remember from his trip as he fell to the ground in a roll that only stopped after he hit a wall. A groan escaped his lips as he began to bleed out on to the floor. Driven by the idea that a follow up could come at any moment he forced the pain to the back of his mind and made his tired body move.

The sound of cracking glass caught his attention and snapped his head up. His eyes traced the form of the man who had attacked him leaning casually in the window frame with one foot in the room. It was the same sound shinobi from before, the one who he had avoided by diving between the buildings. The last he had seen of the man before he had disappeared there had been three other leaf shinobi stepping up to take him on. Obviously they had failed.

"Well, looks like I found you little rat." The words were condescending and detached. They made the blond's blood boil. "I wasn't sure where you had gone that quick."

The gennin had pulled himself to his knees as the man had been talking. He sat up on to his heels as he took a deep breath and rotated his shoulder. Pain flared all around his body and he came to realize quickly that the glass that had hit his back had cut him deep. "And so you just chose to track me down?"

The man smirked. "Right in one. I don't like it when my prey gets away."

"Ah." The blond began as he took a deep breath. "So your that kind of guy." He forced himself up to his feet despite the pain and took a good look at his new adversary. His head was beginning to throb and the day's effort was quickly starting to catch up to him. But still he knew he was far from done. The man stepped fully in to the building.

"Not really. But lord Orochimaru told us about you. Said you were a useless and talentless idiot but he would make sure the one who brought you his head would become one of his greatest jounin."

Naruto grunted at the words but didn't say anything in reply. Instead he thought about them. That snake bastard had put a hit out on him? Guy was really becoming a pain in the ass. And than a stray thought slid in to his brain.

"One of his greatest jounin?" He repeated as he stared at his attacker. He took in the man's attire and hitate-ate again. "Don't tell me that weird snake guy is your village leader."

The smirk instantly shifted in to a sneer. "Lord Orochimaru is a great and powerful shinobi. And you aren't even fit to talk about him with your filthy tounge." Each word was ground out with pure disdain dripping by the letter.

Naruto bit his lip as a wave of anger took root. This bastard had caused him so much trouble in the short time since he had met him during the second portion of the exam. Still he focused and took a deep breath. It wouldn't do for him to get angry. The Hokage had showed him the hard way what happened when someone couldn't control their emotions. It made them sloppy. And sloppy got them killed.

_Anger made you sloppy..._

"I don't really care what pale face is like. He's still a weirdo." The expression has shifted in to a grin. "And for some reason he seems intent on attacking little boys. Kinda peculiar, no?"

That seemed to do it. The man's face seemed to go stone serious for a second before he exploded in to motion. Naruto barely had a chance for another breath before the man had entered his space. With wide eyes the gennin tilted his head to the left to avoid the straight aimed at him. Ignoring the fist that slammed in to the wall near his head the blonde brought both of his palms up and slapped aside the rising knee to his right side. A quick left jab to the ribs followed by a right hook to the stomach gave the blond enough distance to step free. A cross seal later and a shadow clone stepped forward to meet his opponent as the blond took the time to put distance between them.

A flash of five seals later and Naruto's over used body strained as he shushined out of the building. As his clone dispelled after a particularly violent bout of taijutsu the blond flashed through another set of hand seals before slapping his hands to the ground. A small bulk of dirt rose to form a small barrier to divert a blast of wind. The blond bit his lower lip as he successfully deduced how the man used the technique so many times in rapid succession.

_He's got to have those weird pipes in his hand_. His mind warping back to the preliminary rounds as he formed a quick three handed sequence and began focusing his chakra. _Like that guy in the exam._

His train of thought didn't get much further than that. Newly trained instincts had his body in motion long before his mind had even caught up to the movement. The snapped kick that had been aimed to his face had been neatly avoided by a cross block. Using the force to roll back for distance the blond quickly leapt to his feet before he engage in a fierce taijutsu match.

He barely slipped past a jab aimed for his face before he retaliated with a slap to the offending limb. Intent on using the slight opening created the blond darted forward before he was forced to abort as his adversary turned the tables with a quick kick. The blow caught the gennin head on and nearly toppled him over as he slid back. He quickly grabbed his stomach and hunched over in pain before he remembered his sudden danger.

His eyes snapped up and met the now deranged and victorious smile presented to him.

_Shit!_

"**Zankuuha**!" _(Decapitating Air Waves.)_

* * *

The sannin had turned around long before the jounin had even reached a full meter. With experienced eyes the elder shinobi looked over the copy ninja and his younger entourage. With ease he looked over the man's trajectory and judged that the man had been searching for him for quite some time. Once he had drawn that conclusion it was painfully obvious as to why.

"Jiraiya-sama!" The jounin greeted as he zeroed in on to him.

"Hatake!" The toad sage greeted in return before his gaze turned to the two gennin behind him. "And company."

"Sir." Kakashi said while giving a respectful nod of his head when he landed on the same building. Though the man was technically not his superior it was still wise to give respect where it was due. "I've been searching for you."

The sage nodded before he crossed his arms. "You mean to say you've been searching for Naruto." He corrected calmly as his gaze moved back to the man. "I can see the distress on you."

The jounin frowned behind his mask. "Yes sir. I was informed he may have been with you." His mismatched eyes quickly glanced around the area for the tale-tale orange his young student usually wore. "The Hyuuga clan head said you took him with you."

The sage nodded again. "I did. And then I left him join the fight around here. He was doing well."

The frown deepened. "Sir, with all do respect, was that wise?"

Jiraiya scoffed. "I've known Naruto for long enough to know he doesn't usually do wise. I found him already knee deep in this conflict. And at any rate I hope you don't expect for him to sit around. Gennin or not he's a solider of this village, this country, and in a crisis like this we need all the able bodied shinobi we can get."

"I wouldn't call Naruto able bodied sir." The man countered. "This isn't a good place for him."

"No place is right now." Jiraiya responded calmly. "In case you didn't notice this is as good as a declaration of war. We have to repel this enemy force. Shelters won't do anything to help him. And at any rate I didn't send him off to one for a reason."

The frown now turned to confusion instead of disappointment. "I'm sorry?"

"Orochimaru." The man flatly replied. "You don't know him like I do. He doesn't let anything to chance. The idea that Naruto could turn the tide of the battle alone with _that_ is more than enough for him to single the boy out." Purposely avoided the looks of the young gennin behind the man.

Kakashi's expression cleared some. "I know sir. But even still I can't help but think-"

"That he's not ready." The sage cut in gruffly. "I know that. But were never truly ready for live combat. Experience comes from life and from what I've heard Naruto already has more experience than most do simply because of the high level battles he's been around. There are career chunnin out here who've seen less dangerous foes. Hiding him somewhere wouldn't do anything to help.

"And at any rate there's a good chance Orochimaru will send his men searching for the boy purposely. That would put others in danger. There is a method to my madness Hatake Kakashi. I don't like putting anyone's life in danger if I can help it. Let alone Naruto."

"I now that sir." The jounin repeated seriously. "But If you'd let me finish I would have told you that I just didn't think this was the best place for him." Gesturing with his hands to the area around him. "I've had the gennin all band together to stay safe. I was going to send him to meet up with the rest."

This time the sage was the one who frowned. "Send them where?"

"Out in to the forest surrounding the village." The man answered. "Uchiha Sasuke took off after Sabuka no Gaara and his siblings. I sent a force to retrieve him and than I intended for them to stick together."

"He went after the sand boy." The sage deadpanned. "The unstable jinchuuriki?"

"No one ever said he was experienced himself." The jounin countered. "I never actually explained _what_ Gaara was to him. And at any rate I think the proctor Genma ordered Sasuke after them."

"Damn it." The toad sage muttered as he thought over the words. Now what the jounin had been saying was making sense. In the event the boy unleashed the Ichibi the village would be in huge trouble. It would take time for him to make the proper channels to seal it's power away. Time they didn't have.

Unless something stalled it.

As much as he loathe to even think it protecting the village was a jinchuuriki's first job. And by extension Naruto's first job. It would be up to the boy to at least hold the Suna weapon back. The problem was that Naruto was in large part cut off from his own other worldly chakra. Sure the boy was capable of using it in a pinch but it would take quite a bit of effort to summon it up and even that amount would be miniscule compared to what the blond usually could use. As it stood Naruto would still become a smear on the ground if he tried to go up against the Ichibi.

_Unless..._

The realization hit the sage like a ton of bricks. Naruto was gifted, extremely so. Members of the Uzumaki clan each had a special chakra to go along with their legendary vitality and stamina and as they had seen Naruto's triple nature was especially special. With the ability of his kekkei tota the blond technically had the tools to dominate a prospective battle. He was actually the perfect counter for the unique sand techniques of the Suna jinchuuriki.

But the main problem in this hypothetical situation was arguably the biggest one. Control. Naruto didn't have the proper control to utilize his technique to it's full extent. That came from years of practice, even with the shadow clone method. And they just didn't have that kind of time right now.

But still.

_He claimed once that he worked best under pressure._ The sage thought. _Let's see him back it up._

"If that's the case than they'll need more than sticking together to survive." The man finally responded. "I'll see if a certain someone has the ability to stop it."

Kakashi's different shaded eyes widened. "Do you think he can? I haven't see him in so long so I wouldn't know what he's capable of." He calmly ignored the two gennin that stepped up to either side of him and began to look on curiously.

The sannin shrugged. "I wouldn't know. But he'll at least be able to slow it down long enough for me to deal with it properly. In the mean time you should continue to search for Naruto. Last I saw he was heading east. He couldn't have gone far."

The jounin nodded. "Thanks. Once I find him i'll have the gennin rendevous together."

"Good. I'll keep it up here. Trying to find away through Orochimaru's barrier." His face pinched at the thought alone. It didn't take genius to know that the man was worried about that particular problem.

Kakashi did nothing to point that out and instead gave a mock salute before he turned his attention to the gennin on the left side of him. The Akimichi boy still had the look of a frightened doe in his eyes but kept it together well enough.

"Alright group. One last push to find Naruto. He's around here somewhere. Once we find him we'll split up finally. The three of you will head straight for the arena and back through the hole in the open. Pakkun knows he's supposed to leave a way for you to follow him so the trail should be spotted easily enough. That clear?"

The two gennin on either side nodded their heads resolutely before they both pulled out kunai. Kakashi smile briefly at the small show of false bravado. Asuma had apparently taught them enough to never show your fear.

With a flick of his hands the two fell in line behind him before he took off again in search of his wayward gennin. At this point he could only hope to find him quickly before he himself re-insterted his strength in to the effort to end this nightmare.

* * *

As a shinobi of the sound one became use to strange things. It was no secret that Orochimaru was... Strange. Even those who seemed to have a form of hero worship for the rogue leaf ninja were not blind to the man's actions. Screams of torment were a usual occurence and more than a few times teams had been sent out to retrieve 'new test subjects' for the man's work. There had even been rumors of those who had failed in specific task being used in experiments as punishment.

Yes, one got used to strange things in Oto. But that did not mean one was always ready for sudden surprises. So when the dust and smoke cleared and the air began to die down one could understand why the only idea that the sound shinobi could muster up being...

"What?"

With wide eyes he watched as his younger adversary pulled down his cross guard and looked back at him with his now slightly darker shade of blue eyes. Their gazes met before the blond stood at full height and rolled his neck. It was then that the Oto shinobi noticed something glinting in the late day sunlight.

"**Shoton**." The blond replied to the question softly. "**Kesshou No Yoroi**." _(Crystal Release: Crystal Armor)_

"Shoton?" The Oto shinobi muttered as he looked over his contender. "I've never heard of such a release."

"Because of it's rarity." Naruto responded as he took a slightly eased his left leg back and dipped his hips. "I was worried it wouldn't form in time. I've never forced the chakra to take that quickly before. And to think it also stood up to your wind ninjutsu."

"I see." The condescending sneer was back. "I'm sure my lord will reward me even more so when I return to him with your corpse. He so loves little tricks like this."

The blond grunted at the words before he raised his right arm and bent it at the elbow. He curled his fingers and brought his left arm in to a fist at his side. A grin slid it's way on to his face. "If you like that trick you'll love the next few."

There were no more words or warnings, the two shinobi simply blurred in to motion. Naruto was in mid body flicker by the time the wind technique roared free of the strange tubes and came out in a slid across the ground to the left of his attacker. Reaching a hand out as his momentum carried him by the blond grabbed a hand full of the sound ninja and used his weight to forcefully turn his foe. The Oto shinobi was taken off guard by the sudden momentum and forced to spin bodily to the left.

Ducking the last remaining currents of the strange ninjutsu the blond shot forward with speed that defied his age. In the time between blinks the blond had closed the gap between them before he rammed his shoulder directly in to his opponent's stomach.

The oto shinobi hunched over on contact and the blond quickly stepped back before he grabbed both shoulders and used his weight to drop the man on to a rising knee. The sound of snapping teeth brought a smirk to the blond's face as the Oto shinobi's head snapped back from the force.

Never stopping his attack the young gennin quickly transitioned his body to the ground in to another leg sweep. As his opponent dropped Naruto dug his crystal coated right hand in to the ground and grabbed a hand full of dirt as he formed a single half-seal with his left. The next instant and he leaned a knee on to his contender's chest as the dirt in his hand solidified in a single gleaming piece of reflective crystal.

Without hesitation he jammed it forward and in to the sound shinobi's chest.

"Kessho Kunai." The blond muttered as the man underneath him began to gargle and choke. It briefly occurred to the blond that he must have punctured a lung with his stab before he banished the thoughts and stood. With only a single glance more the blond turned on his heels and began to walk away.

It was by the fifth step that something pricked at his senses and newly developed instincts had the blond moving long before the flurry of shuriken had even struck. A body flicker put the blond on to the roof a nearby village as his eyes surveyed the area for his apparent attacker.

_Where is he?_ _Not to the left or the right._ His eyes darting here and there. _So... Below!_

The realization came in time to save his life. By the time the gennin's feet had cleared the side of the roof the entire structure seemed to cave in on it's self completely. Dropping to the ground in a quick the blond quickly turned to watch as the entire building fell to rubble before his eyes picked up something in wreckage.

_What the hell?_ He thought as the bundle moved to reveal it's self to be a man. _Who the hell is this guy_.

The first thing the blond noted about him was his height. He was tall, far taller than anyone Naruto had met up to that point. He was also lean and fit, not overly muscular but not skinny. The most noticable trait was the long white hair he sported and his vivid green eyes. From there the blond noted his strange clothing that resembled more of a loose flowing garment with a purple sash than traditional shinobi clothing.

Overall it was clear to the blond that this was no average shinobi.

"Are you Uzumaki Naruto?"

The blond blinked at the sudden question. The voice was not what he expected. It was calm and composed and full of complete and utter confidence. It was the kind of relaxed composure that didn't belong on the battlefield. And the blond saw it for what it was; confidence.

"I am." He responded just as confident as he could. "Can I ask who you are?"

There was a brief pause where Naruto didn't think the man would respond before he finally answered. "I am Kimimaro. A chief general in lord Orochimaru's army." The words were said with the same uncaring calm from before. It was already starting to aggregate the blond.

"Uh huh." It confirmed what he had figured from the wardrobe. "I'm going to take a guess that your out here to kill me specifically?"

The man tilted his head slightly before he nodded. "Indeed."

"Yep. Figured as much." The blond muttered as he stood up on to the tips of his toes to stretch. The truth was that he wanted to do any else but fight right now. His body ached everywhere and even his impossibly large chakra coils were beginning to burn from continued use. He didn't know how much longer the fights would take but he was sure he wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.

_Not like he cares. _

"That ability is impressive." The man, Kimimaro, spoke again. "I have only seen it once before. The supposedly other user died."

"Is that so?" The blond stalled as he began to map out a plan for the upcoming confrontation. "How long ago was this?"

The man shrugged his slim shoulders. "A few years prior. A servant to my lord Orochimaru."

The blond frowned at that idea. He had been informed that the chances that someone else shared his elemental affinity was slim but that there still was an opportunity. To hear of another so soon... And a former member of the attacking force. Still the idea that Orochimaru could have known about his ability before hand was very slim considering how much work the Sandaime did to hide it.

Which meant that the man was simply calling a hit on him before hand. No doubt from the confrontation in the forest. But his newest opponent spoke about it as if he had a prior knowledge. Which could only mean that...

_He was watching the last fight. _A scowl slipping on to his face. That meant that he had already been analyzing his attacks. And he no doubt saw that the blond was fatigue and tired. Choosing now as the perfect time to strike. Furthermore his calm countenance also made the blond suspect that- _He's been following me for a while now._

The idea that the man had managed to slip past the notice of both Jiraya and his own awareness spoke volumes about his own talents. This man didn't simply boast about being one of Orochimaru's best soldiers for the fun of it. He meant that completely. And that meant the Naruto was outclassed.

The blond was prideful but not stupid. He knew that a lot of his quick kills had been a combination of his own suprising skills and his opponents underestimating his ability. With his age and no vest it was clear to the attackers that Naruto was only a gennin. And as such they expected only a gennin challenge. That in turn had proved to be their downfall.

But this one had been studying him. He wouldn't fall from surprise.

"Well." The boy began with a sigh. "We might as well get this started-"

His newfound reaction time barely saved his life.

With hitched breathing Naruto rolled with the blow and sprawled out on to his stomach. His right hand instantly shot to his forehead while his vision went blurry from the pain. He had thrown himself backward in an attempt to avoid the sudden attack. It didn't work. Whatever it was had hit him square in the forehead and the wet feeling on the tip of his finger tips had told the blond that his new defensive ninjutsu hadn't been able to completely stop it.

_Son of a- What the fuck was that?!_

His clearing eyes told the tale for him. The man was still in the same place he had been standing before but now the blond could see the difference in his stance. His right leg and been shifted back and his left hand had been pointed towards the blond. Naruto had barely seen the movement when he himself had tried to evade. Obviously it hadn't been enough.

A glance towards the ground pieced together the rest of the puzzle. Lying in a spot where he had been hit was a single white projectile that was roughly oval and shape and covered in blood. The blond blinked at the strange weapon before something triggered in his memory. He had seen that combination of red and ivory once before, near the beginning of his training session with the Sandaime Hokage. From a time when he had been to slow to avoid what had now been a relatively easy strike.

It was a bone.

_Did he?!_ The blond groaned as he rose to his knees. _Did he shoot his fucking bone at me?!_

His train of thought didn't get much further.

"You should never take your eyes of your opponent." Came the calm and cool voice.

The blond reacted with all the speed and violence he could muster an in one moment he was half way to his feet and mid spin. The backfist was calmly avoided with a step back before his assailant slammed a foot in to his chest with the force of a run away beer truck.

Naruto felt the air leave his lungs and knew without a doubt that if he hadn't been wearing his new crystal armor he would have been folded in half like a pretzel. Instead he was simply tossed backward with the force to completely force him from his feet. He hit the ground with a thump and slid backwards for about a foot before something caught the edges of his vision. Using all the strength that he could the blond rolled to the right in time to avoid the follow up attempt. Forcing himself back on to his stomach the gennin chanced a glance back at his newest adversary.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The astonished blond muttered with wide eyes.

Indeed the man had been attacking him with _bones_. Like the one coming out of his forearm. It had pierced the ground right where the blond's throat had just been. A guaranteed lethal blow. With a growl the blond forced himself back on to his feet as quickly as he could while his opponent instead calmly _pulled his arm away_. The blond could see that despite the fact an ivory piece of bone sticking straight in to the air the arm had not lost any of it's structure. Instead it looked as if the man had simply duplicated another in to it's place.

"Shikotsumyaku." The man, Kimimaro, responded to the question. "My kekkei genkai. I am from the Kaguya clan who hailed from the hidden mist. With this we became the ultimate taijutsu masters of the village." He calmly stood and turned to face the blond. "I was called the most gifted before our fall at the hands of the bloodline purges."

"Um... Okay." Naruto replied blankly while his mind raced behind his surprise. He had briefly remembered something about this when he had once asked the toad sage about the other bloodline limits of the world. But it was only mentioned in passing. "That's gotta hurt."

The man shrugged slightly. "I became used to the pain quite some time ago."

"Ah." The gennin slapped his hands together and began to seal. He got as far as the third before the man was on him. The blond ducked under a swing before he slammed his hands on to the ground.

The ground between them suddenly surged upward towards the sky and the Oto shinobi was forced to step back as the make shift shield hid the young teen from view. Running on adrenaline Naruto forced his body in to a body flicker as he fled to a nearby roof top, just in time to watch as the entire wall he had erected had been pierced.

Very few shinobi battles lasted past the mark of around two minutes. A combination of speed, experience, and surprise were usually the determining factors in who lived and died when two ninja met with the intent to draw blood. More often than not the shinobi with even a small advantage in one of the two areas generally came away as the victor.

It was already painfully obvious to Naruto that his newest opponent had him beat by a large margin in the first two categories. And the fact that he had been studing the blond's confrontations singled that he would more than likely not be surprised as well. Which meant the blond should be dead in the water within the next few seconds.

He was going to do everything he could to bust past that usual time frame.

With a deep breath the blond began to focus on every detail around him. Every bit of training he had gone through with the Sandaime Hokage began to flow in to his being. Every experience he had dealt with so far had been pushed to the forefront. His arms hurt and his legs were tired, but he was alive and that meant that he was still in the fight.

His sensitive ears twinged as something whistled through the air towards him. The blond jinchuuriki had ducked long before the bone projectiles had reached his position. In one motion the blond had tossed two handfuls of shuriken and formed a single seal. The six projectiles had became sixty as they raced to meet his attacker head on.

Not waiting to see what happened next the blond raced through another set of seals. By the time the oto shinobi had cleared the wall to see a wave of metal barring down on him the gennin had finished his follow up wind ninjutsu.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa**!" _(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)_

The Kaguya prodigy glanced upward as the wall of metal stars accelerated with the force of the wind ninjutsu. With a sigh of annoyance the elite Oto shinobi body flickered out of the path and further down the street. With a wave of his arm a single ulna passed through his skin and slammed in to one of the incoming clones. As it exploded in to a cloud of smoke a second had already slipped in to range. The Kaguya tilted his head to the side to dodge a jump kick before he lashed out his opposite arm behind him and dispelled it much the same way.

His green eyes glanced around the area before he took one large step back. As the blond erupted from the ground where he had just been the the sound shinobi rocked back on to his heels before he suddenly lashed one foot forward. The blond was again caught square in the chest and bodily hurled backwards. The Kaguya watched as fracture marks appeared on the blond's arm before the unique armor he had been wearing simply seemed to disperse as if it had never existed in the first place.

The man shook his head as he approached the down gennin. "Your technique is just in the nascent stage. You don't have the control to keep it active or the seasoning to make it particularly hard. Against someone with the strength and knowledge like myself you don't have much of a chance." He raised one arm and pulled forth another sword like bone. "Simply put you are outmatched."

The blond said nothing in return and instead laid upon the ground panting. The Kaguya ninja continued on his path towards the blond with the intent on ending the conflict once and for all when for the first time his opponent surprised him.

Kimimaro blinked as two sets of hands stretched from the ground on either side of him. He glanced down as each pair grabbed on to his ankles before he turned his attention back the the original. Naruto sat up on his elbows as his late trap had finally been sprung.

The Kaguya sighed. "This will not help you." He raised the bone sword in preparation to stab downward when the blond snorted.

"Yeah, I suppose it won't. But you know one thing an old guy I know once said I was better than most at?" The blond responded with a smirk. "Sensing."

The Oto shinobi got as far as a frown as he pondered the question before a shrill screaming lit up the air. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end as the feeling of raw chakra washed over him. Something was behind him. Something big.

"Hi there. Would you mind getting away from my gennin?"


	5. Decisions

**"**Speech"

_'Thought_

Flashback **(())**

Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto in anyway shape or form. Cuz if I did I would be rich._

* * *

Hatake Kakashi narrowed his dissimilar eyes at the man standing across the street.

Beneath his mask the usually lazy and careless expression had shifted to one of fierce concentration. He had just missed an opponent with his signature technique. An opponent that had been held down in place by the ankles. That just didn't happen. It shouldn't happen. But unfortunately it did and his Sharingan eye had caught the entire motion like it had been one large movie.

Ignoring the now bleeding gash he had acquired above his right eyebrow the man took the chance to glance down to his right side. Forcing himself to stand from his previous position sprawled upon his back was the last, and apparently the most elusive, of his gennin team. With experienced ease the copy ninja glanced over Uzumaki Naruto, taking in the change of attire and posture in one go. It went without saying that the gennin that had changed the most the past two months now kneeled before him.

It was a little frightening to be honest.

Looking back to the man calmly regarded him in return the copy ninja went back over what had just happened. It was obvious to him that Naruto had known of him coming and prepared for his intro with that little clone trap he had tried. And it should have worked. But something had changed all of that. Something that also nearly cut his head off in the process. Still, it was more than a little pleasing to catch the large gash that had been open up on the sound shinobi's side.

"Are you alright?" His question clearly directed to the gennin at his side. Naruto stood completely from his kneeling position and glanced at the two other leaf shinobi that had shown up with his now former jounin-sensei. Not that he expected the man to know that.

"As good as I'm going to get on this day." He replied gruffly as he patted his clothing down and gave a critical eye to the other two gennin. They were looking at him with worry. He wasn't sure why. "Apart from the getting my ass handed to me by this guy that is."

The jounin made a noise of approvement as he watched the other man like a hawk. There was no movement and no words. It seemed as if the other was calmly regarded him just the same. Apparently unconcerned by whatever they had been saying to each other. That was a level of arrogance that even made the usually cool leaf ninja bristle. It also showed confidence.

He doubted that it was misplaced.

"What the hell was that anyway?" Naruto asked as he took a step closer, his own eyes not leaving the sound ninja. "All that noise and light. I thought you were just going to slit his throat or something."

Kakashi briefly shook his head. "Not necessarily safe enough. To use a kunai like that would require me getting even closer than I did." He clenched his jaw over the thought alone. "That was my trump card. An instant kill that's supposed to be able to rip through nearly any defense and blow a hole in to a person's chest. You've seen it's work before."

The blond went silent at the words. Indeed he had seen the results before. An image of the young man they had met on their first venture outside the village walls flashed before his eyes. The rogue Kiri shinobi who was too kind for his own good in the end. A reminder he had used much in that day as he took life after life without hesitation.

That jutsu was indeed brutal.

"Speaking of which." Kakashi drawled as he chanced another glance back at the gennin. "What's with your little trick."

"It's _my_ trump card." The blond instantly responded in kind. "A little special thing I found I could do during training." It was clear that was all that he was going to say and Kakashi had to stop himself from gaping in surprise as his usually excitable gennin did not immediately take the chance to boast about a new skill. Perhaps he was learning something after all. Had Jiraiya really done this? Either way now was not the time for that kind of thinking.

"So, what's this guy's story?" He asked as he looked back to the still motionless sound ninja. "How'd he do what he did?" Namely nearly take his head off without actually moving.

The blond snorted as the two other gennin came to stand next to him. "It's a kekkei genkai, a lost one. Comes from a mist clan named Kaguya."

The jounin's eyes went wide as he processed what had just been said to him. "A Kaguya?" He asked in disbelief. "I thought they were all dead."

"Like the Uzumaki, Uchiha, or ice using Yuki?" The blond countered with a sarcastic lazy drawl of his own. "Bone guy was pretty damn proud of his clan name." It was than that the first of the other gennin finally spoke.

"Bone guy?" The usually brash Yamanaka clan heiress intoned as she gripped her kunai. Naruto cut a glance to the girl before he grunted an affirmative.

"The Shikotsumyaku." Kakashi interjected helpfully. "Corpse bone pulse."

"That's it." Naruto snapped as he nodded sagely. "I couldn't get a good hit on him but I sure felt the one he put on me. Nearly snapped me in half. And he's able to just go around shooting them out and stuff." He frowned here. "This guy is good. Really good. Said he was one of snake guy's best and I don't doubt it for a second."

"Is that so?" The jounin muttered as the man across from him finally moved. A questioning tilt of his head as he regarded the leaf group in turn.

"Also said pale face wanted me dead." Naruto continued as he rolled his shoulders in an attempt to fight back the muscle stiffness and cramps that were coming on. "The second guy who's come after me spouting that crap."

"Is that so?" The jounin repeated with much more intensity. His jaw went rigid again and something sparked inside of him. "Orochimaru _put a hit out on you_?"

Surprisingly the gennin shrugged. "What can I say? He's afraid of awesome." Naruto deadpanned.

"I'm sure." Inwardly the jounin was seething. Although the soldier in him could understand it the jounin-sensei in him was appalled. Appalled at the idea that someone would willingly target one of _his_ gennin. "I'll be sure to tell him what I think after I finish with our friend here."

The blond shrugged again. "Fine with me. Not looking to fighting him anymore than I already have." Although his usual reaction would be to fiercely declare that he would finish his own fight he couldn't find the strength to do it now. He was tired, hungry, and outmatched. It was better to let the jounin handle this one.

"That's good. Because you've got another assignment."

Naruto blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"You'll go with Ino and Chouji here." Kakashi continued on. "And find the rest of the gennin. Find Sasuke and bring him back."

There was silence for about all of thirty seconds. "Bring Sasuke back." Naruto repeated flatly. "Bring Sasuke back?"

"Yes." The jounin replied. "From the forest. Where he chased after Gaara of the desert."

"Ah." The blond nodded sagely again. "So basically were all gonna die?"

The jounin turned his eyes to him again and regarded him with a look before his words really sinked in. "You know? Who told you?"

"I found out." The blond corrected. "And you were going to send us after him with out telling us?"

"I didn't think it'd be a problem." The jounin defended lamely. Naruto didn't believe it for a second. "Your usually up for this kind of thing."

"I usually have a bowl of ramen at this time of the day." Naruto responded in kind. "Today isn't the usual, wouldn't you agree?"

The two gennin of squad ten looked between the two with blatant confusion.

"At any rate I want all of you gennin to stick together." The jounin continued as if that little segment had never happened. "It's better for all of you. We can't watch you all day if you intend to survive."

The blond snorted. "Apart from this guy i've been surviving all day. Not sure how joining up with other gennin are going to help. We don't know each others strengths to well. All of us together may create problems."

The jounin shrugged. "It's the best we've got right now. Got to make do with a crisis situation."

"If you say so." The gennin conceded as he eyed the Oto shinobi. "I still don't see how this will work though- Crap!"

The jounin responded with the kind of smooth movements that could only be born from experience. In a flash he had palmed a kunai and ducked in to a spin that in turn completely evaded a swipe to his neck. Turning and rising again in one motion he met the white sword like bone with a clang before rising off one foot and driving the opposite heel in to his opponent's stomach. The Kaguya grunted with the impact but barred down on to the copy ninja with one hand as he raised another. The leaf jounin twitched his head out of the way of the firing finger bones as he struggled to hold up the weight of the taller shinobi.

Then Naruto was on him, his final kunai slipping from his fingers. In an instant the sound ninja had rapidly retreated from his attack and knocked aside the bladed weapon with his own before twirling on one foot to meet the incoming blond. Unlike before Naruto was ready for the counter and dropped to his knees in a slide past a lashing foot as his hands flashed through seals. Turning his palms up to the enemy shinobi the blond focused some of his chakra down the length of his arms and in to his hands.

The double barreled wind ninjutsu slammed in to the unprepared sound ninja's stomach before he could replant his second foot. Only the sheer density of his bones saved him from being carried away through the air but even still he slid back several feet from the force of the ninjutsu and grimaced as the pain of the wind natured chakra began to set in. He glanced down at what remained of his clothing before he sighed in annoyance.

Kakashi and the two other leaf gennin blanched as the blond rose again to his feet and hopped back to join them. The jounin finally dropped his arm and turned to look as his blond gennin came to rest beside him. Panting with the effort from the sudden clash Naruto winced as exhaustion took further hold of his body.

"Um... Good job?" Kakashi started with surprise audible in his voice. "Really good job actually."

The blond gennin grunted before he responded. "Like I said, afraid of awesome."

The jounin gave him one last look before his attention switched back to the sound shinobi in time to catch his next play. His breath hitched and his eyes went wide as a sudden spike of chakra filled the air. The quartet of leaf ninja watched as strange markings began to slither their way over the Kaguya's body and with them his chakra began to rise. Kakashi had seen something like this before but nowhere near as refined as this.

"What the hell is that?" Naruto questioned as the foul chakra began to stick to his skin. It made his face turn up and his hand clench in to fist with it's nauseating feel. It was like something had crawled up and died inside of the man.

"A cursed seal." Kakashi answered in a murmur that only the blond's sensitive ears had been able to pick up. "Other wise known as not good."

_Yeah. Understatement of the year. _The blond thought as he watched the markings continue to spread.

"Listen up." The jounin suddenly barked. He ignored how the two gennin of team ten jumped in surprise in favor of getting straight to the point. "It's time for you three to get out of here. This guy is way out of your league and I can't fight him while having to watch for you three."

Naruto regarded him with a look before he nodded. "Right. Going after Sasuke."

"Good. Now get out of here before he makes a move again."

The three gennin didn't waste anymore time with words and in the next moment were off towards the direction of the stadium. The copy ninja didn't turn to look at them and instead kept his attention on the sound ninja as he waited for a sign of what the blond had been saying before. He didn't have a long wait.

In one body flicker the sound shinobi had halved the distance between the retreating gennin before he was forced to stop short as an arc of pure lightning chakra slammed in to the ground in front of him. He turned immediately to face the approaching leaf jounin and lashed out with another swipe that Kakashi casually evaded. A flash of hand seals nearly to quick for the sound shinobi to follow were the only precursor before a plume of flame erupted from the hailed leaf ninja.

The leaf jounin watched as the fire enveloped the sound shinobi before he broke apart to put distance between them. Kakashi let him and looked on as the flames began to die down to reveal that little if any damage had been done to his adversary.

He grimaced. _One of those kinda guys..._

As the rest of the flames died away the sound shinobi's once calm and composed countenance had been replaced by frustration. His green eyes glared at the copy ninja as he tore away what remained of the clothing on his upper body.

"Hatake Kakashi. The Copy Ninja." The words were all but a snarl as the past his lips. "You are in my way."

"Yeah. Not sorry about that at all." The jounin responded as he twirled his kunai by the ring. "You are attacking my gennin again after all."

The green eyed glare narrowed even further. "He is to die by the order of lord Orochimaru. You will not prevent it."

"So you say." Kakashi's own eyes narrowing. "But seeing as you won't be getting past me I'd have to disagree."

The Kaguya tsked in annoyance. "No matter. I will simply kill you before hunting him down like the trash that he is."

"Right." The jounin said with a roll of his own eyes. "That's something I'd like to see."

"And indeed you will. For after I bring your body before him Orochimaru-sama is sure to give me great praise."

* * *

"Are we really going to leave him back there?"

It took Naruto five seconds longer than it should have to realize that the girl had spoken to him. He slightly turned his head back towards his right shoulder to look at his two fellow leaf gennin. A frown spread on to his face.

"Of course." He answered as the group darted between back streets and alleys with the intent on avoiding conflicts. Naruto didn't have the skill or energy left to fight off enemies _and_ keep them safe.

A frown split the pretty girl's face. "But that guy was really... Creepy."

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the word. "He'll be fine. He's a famous ninja from the last war. By the time he was our age he had been a chunin for several years. And at fourteen he was a jounin leading groups on important missions in war-time."

The two gennin of team ten looked to each other and blinked before returning their attention to his back. "Really?" The disbelief in their voice was audible.

It was hard for them to see it. Although they had just traveled a great deal with the man as their unofficial body-guard he hadn't done anything to overly impress them. Apart from that last ninjutsu he had used to try to dispose of the strange sound ninja he had simply used kunai to kill the others in his path. The only other time they had seen the man had been during the preliminaries of the last stage of the chunnin exam. And then he had only stood on by the railing reading porn.

Was that guy really so important?

This time Naruto was unable to stop his bodies natural reaction and snorted. "He graduated with your own jounin from the academy as the rookie of the year when he was six. They were all ten. They all look up to him for a reason. He's got huge bounties in the other major villages and a nickname that's pretty popular. Overall he's one of the strongest ninja in the village and on top of that is the last, and prized, student of the fourth Hokage. We rather have him fighting someone like that as opposed to other jounin. He'll be more than fine."

The two other gennin looked to each other once more with wide eyes as they processed everything that he had said. That seemingly uncaring and notoriously lazy shinobi was someone that strong? It was too much for the Akimichi boy to fathom.

"Um... Are you sure you have the right guy?" He asked as he struggled to keep up with the brisk pace the other boy was setting.

Naruto chanced a glance over his left shoulder at the larger boy before he shook his head and went back to surveying the surroundings. They looked to each other once more before they too fell silent and followed after the shorter gennin. The trio moved through the streets swiftly and silently while somehow avoiding any enemy encounters on the way. Not that any of them complained, Naruto being too tired to go looking for unnecessary fights and the other two being unsure if they could handle their own if they had too.

Soon the three had slipped back in to the first area of the attack and then in to the arena in turn. They dashed through the halls and in to the stands. Naruto glanced around cautiously but saw for the most part that much of the fighting in this area had already been completed. Only a few battles still raged and none of the combatants branched off to meet them.

The three-leaf gennin hopped down in to the arena floor before they exited in to the forest surrounding the village. Taking to the canopy Naruto retained point while remaining on the lookout for any possible hostiles. They darted through the foliage as their eyes searched for any sign of their would be companions.

"There!" The Akimichi gennin suddenly shouted. Naruto turned his head in to the direction the gennin had indicated with a finger before glancing over the area. Sure enough a branch had been broken in a way that was much to deliberate for it to have been simply the aftermath of a previous battle.

"Good eye." Naruto commented as he adjusted his trajectory with the two others turning to match. Soon the slight breaking of branches were instead replaced with obvious slashes of a kunai. The trio went silent again as they raced along the path in search of their fellow leaf gennin. It wasn't long before something else caught Naruto's attention and his sharp eyes narrowed in on to the sight spread out before him as his rather sensitive nose twitched as a foul smell assaulted it.

_Poison_ He had immediately identified. _There must have been a battle here_.

He was assured of such only seconds later as an out of color blob drew his attention. The grey coat with its high collar and long sleeves instantly brought one person to mind. It was the Akimichi boy who solidified the idea only seconds later.

"Shino!" The big boned gennin shouted as he rushed past him to the down boy followed closely by his female teammate. Naruto groaned and resisted the urge to face palm. He too would have rushed ahead without checking the area just two months before but the Sandaime Hokage had quickly remedied that fault in his in reaction.

Taking the chance to stop and survey the area once for any remaining enemies before he too descended to the branch they had rested on. Before the blond had gotten within five steps of the downed gennin his ears had picked up on the rasping breathing. He came up to a crouch beside the two other members of his make shift team as they looked on to the usually silent boy with worry.

His skin was palm and his clothes were damp with switch. It took the blond all of three seconds to recognize that the other gennin had been apart of the battle and brought down with what ever poison he had smelled earlier. The Aburame gennin was twitching at intervals and seemed to be curling up in a ball. All around him the infamous kikaichu beetles scuttled about on the large branch as they panicked without their host to guide them.

Naruto looked on as the two gennin from squad ten fussed over their downed former classmate. Naruto frowned as his mind raced. Although he had never been friends with the boy, Aburame Shino had never been one to actively antagonize the blond during their academy years. Unlike others he did not belittle the boy or make light of his goals and aspirations, and in this village that alone was more than enough. Naruto had grown so used to the animosity of the people that the simple casual disregard for his actions was actually in a way a breath of fresh air.

But none of that mattered now. As it stood he had no idea of how to identify the type of poison let alone find a way to get the antidote. Not to mention there was no telling how long the boy had left before it finished him if it even was, likely, lethal. There was just nothing Naruto could do for the dying boy.

_But you still have to try_. Something said to him. _Those who leave their comrades behind are worse than trash._

Begrudgingly Naruto agreed. Despite his now rather jaded view of the world he was still the same person deep down inside. And as such he hated to see people suffer, especially those from the leaf village. Despite how much he hated how things had played out for him overall there was no sense in letting someone else pay the price for no real fault of their own. He had to at least try and get him some help. But at the same time he had been told to find the other gennin. What if who had poisoned him had simply moved on after the others? Would he really be able to just turn around to save one gennin's life at possibly the risk of the rest?

A tough decision to make.

But one he had to make regardless. It was in that moment that he remembered why he had even bothered to wake up this morning. The reason he had nearly broke his body to train so hard over the past few months. The title of chunnin, the first step in proving everyone who had ever doubted him wrong, had been in his future just hours ago. Chunnin were squad leaders, they had to make difficult decisions all the time that involved life and death. If he could not do that he had no business trying as a shinobi.

In the end it all came down to a simple question that he found himself asking more and more lately. _What would Haku do_?

The answer was simple.

"Chouji, pick him up." Naruto barked out with authority he didn't even know he had.

The two other gennin looked up to him in surprise as they registered what he said. Their gaping mouths and wide eyes caused irritation to bubble up from deep inside of him. He clenched his hands as they stared at him.

"Enough gawking damn it! Pick him up!"

The other male gennin jumped in surprise at the harsh order before he quickly dropped down and grabbed the downed leaf shinobi. Quickly he leaned forward and picked the lighter, if taller, boy up before placing him on to his back, grabbing his forearms to keep him from sliding off. Naruto watched him work before he nodded and turned his attention to the Yamanaka girl.

"Chouji's going to have to carry him which means he'll be unable to fight. That means you'll have to cover for the both of them." He told the girl as quickly as he could. "His life is in Chouji's hands now. And you have to watch after the both of them. If something happens to either of them it's on your head."

The girl's mouth opened even wider, if at all possible, and she quickly stood before taking a step back. Violently she began to shake her head and stutter out a denial. His own voice met her before she should even begin begin speak.

"There is no debating this." He said resolutely. "If you do not do it Aburame Shino will die." He said the words with as much of a dead tone as he could muster. Considering his usually lively and loud voice that was typically full of emotion it was impressive.

The girl went silent and her mouth shut with a snap as her teammate came to stand next to her. Naruto eyed the two of them for half a second before he nodded and formed a familiar seal. A single shadow clone popped in to existence next to him in a crouch before it stood and walked over to them.

"This is all the help I can give you. I'll need what chakra I do have left to help out anyone else. For all we know someone attacked the rest of the gennin and is just waiting in the area for someone else to show up. Which means you'll have to get out of here as fast as you can."

The two other gennin stared at him with wide eyes but nodded in understanding.

"Good, go straight for some medical help. Ask who you have to but find someone to save his life. He's counting on you both." The gennin further commanded before he glanced around the area and frowned. "Now go."

There wasn't a waste of time like he first expected. The two gennin turned around right away and head in the general direction of the village with their passenger in two. Naruto watched them go about until they were out of sight before he took a deep breath and turned back to the direction he had originally been traveling.

With a sigh the blond leaned back and fell off the large branch in time to avoid the wave of senbon. They slammed in to the wood where he had been with a series of thunks and immediately Naruto could smell the poison they were coated in. Catching himself against the next branch down the tree with chakra the blond snapped his blue eyes upward as his attacker dropped down from the canopy above to rest on a tree not far from his own.

It was one of the three sound gennin from before. The puppeteer that had embarrassed him in front of the third's grandson. He was more than a little worse for ware himself and seemed unsteady on his legs. His strange clothing was ripped in various places and blood was visible on his strangely painted face.

In about ten seconds the blond had deduced what had happened like he had been doing all day.

_He's tired_. Was the first conclusion _That technique takes a lot of control but can use chakra up pretty quick if the fight is prolonged. Still, he shouldn't be that bad off..._

A light bulb went off in his head.

_He lost._ The blond realized with a grin. _Shino beat him. His bugs nearly drained the bastard dry but couldn't finish the job as the poison set in and as a result this guy can barely stand. He must have just been trying to rest up around here out of sight when we arrived. Then he would have been debating on if he should come out or not when we showed up. Heard our plan and tried to make a move._

Part of the blond was upset that he hadn't been able to catch hide or hair of the Suna gennin before he had made a move to attack him. But the other part was planning ahead. He would have to finish this fight as quickly as he could before he moved on to help the other gennin. The next thing that came up would be how would he dispose of the other boy.

_He's the Kazekage's son_. Naruto recalled the toad sage saying. The entire gennin team from Suna being children of their own kage. _Which means I probably shouldn't kill him if I can help it_.

The gennin was by no means a politician but could already see a potential backlash from killing the child of a kage. As much as he hated Suna right now, mostly for trying to kill him all day, he still saw that some decorum would be needed. He had no idea what the higher ups would do after this day but was sure that having spared the life of the Kazekage's son was something that would look good on the resume.

But that was for much later. Now it was time to work.

"Ya looking a little shaky there." Naruto said with a cheeky grin as he formulated his plan. "Maybe you should lay down?"

The sand gennin sneered at him. "You'll be the one laying down when I'm done with you brat."

Naruto visibly rolled his eyes. "Bravo, you really had a great come back there." He gave an exaggerated show clap to show what he thought of it. "Really burned me good there buddy. By the way you sure you wanna go down this road?"

The sneer somehow managed to go deeper. "Enough with the talk."

Naruto tensed as the gennin raised his hands up and twitched his fingers. Sensitive ears caught the sound of something firing through the air towards him and the blond reacted much like he did before by leaning backward of the branch. However, instead of simply falling to another branch below he remained attached and simply swung his body to the underside. Hanging upside down the blond flashed through a set of seals before he held his hands out towards the sand gennin.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa**!" _(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)_

The large gust of wind ripped through the tree tops as it raced upwards towards the other gennin. With a curse the Kazekage's oldest son leapt backward off of his branch in an effort to avoid the wind ninjutsu. He landed on the next branch in a crouch with a huff and fell to his knees before he forced his head up.

Naruto was already on him.

The blond's right hook nearly rattled his brain as it forcefully spun him around in a complete circle. Naruto followed it up with a left to the stomach that bent him over and forced spittle to fly forth before finishing the small combo with a right knee that snapped the head back and a leg sweep that finally dropped his opponent straight on to his back in a spread eagle.

The blond looked down at his black haired opponent before he suddenly chuckled.

"Damn that was easy." He said as he placed his hands on his hips.

The Suna gennin's finger twitched.

Naruto glanced down to look at the blade puncturing his chest.

* * *

The toad sage stared at the seen before him with pure disbelief.

The Sandaime Hokage turned his attention to the man standing outside of the barrier and gave him as calm a smile as he could muster. Even still it was utterly hollow on his wrinkled face.

"Ah Jiraiya!" He greeted as if it were any other day. "Don't be so shy! Step closer and say hello to these two old fellows."

The sannin did as such and let his feet carry him forward only to stop right before the wall of purple fire that separated the aged Hokage from the rest of the world. Ignoring the snarling face of the strange sound ninja standing before him Jiraiya instead focused his attention on to the inside of the barrier.

Standing tall and proud were two men he had never thought he'd ever have the pleasure of meeting. The Shodai and Nidaime Hokages. The legendary Senju brothers who had helped found this very village and by extent change the shinobi world as a whole. Indeed these were two of the most popular and powerful shinobi to ever live.

Two very dead shinobi.

The sage didn't know what to say as he looked upon the makeshift battleground that encompassed the entire roof of a building. There was his elderly sensei dressed in the famous black armor that he had used in his youth standing before a trio of former leaf legends, two of which had been dead for decades. Orochimaru sneered at him from his position beside to large pillars sticking out from the roof that Jiraiya quickly realized were actually coffins.

There was a third with a trio of shuriken pinning it closed. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was for.

Rage the likes of what he had never really known began to rise up from deep inside the toad sage. Jiraiya's mouth split open to bear his teeth in a harsh unspoken snarl. Large meaty fist clenched as he struggled to maintain his composure. A battle he was losing quickly.

"What. The. Hell?" It was all that he could manage.

Together the two dead Hokage turned their attention to look at him with black eyes that he was sure they didn't have in their natural life times. They looked on curiously at him before turning as one again to look back at the third fire shadow.

"And who might this by Hiruzen?" The one with the long brown hair said. "I don't recognize him."

"I do." His counterpart answered before the Sandaime could. "This is another one of his students. The second one."

"Oh?" There was a hint of curiosity in the voice. "Another student Hiruzen? Did you take a whole team?"

The old Hokage chuckled with real mirth. He nodded his head as he responded. "Indeed I did. This is Jiraiya-kun. Another one of my students. The one i'm most proud of."

"I see! Well than how do you do?" The Shodai greeted as he turned his head back to the sage. Jiraiya blinked at being addressed so suddenly before he fumbled with an answer himself.

"Um... Fine sir." It was a surreal experience that nearly depleted his anger for a few seconds. It only returned with double the fury. "Actually I'm not fine. I come up here to find my old teammate has trapped our sensei inside of a barrier and is attempting to kill him by... Summoning you two?" It was all that he could think of in this situation.

The second Hokage affirmed his assumption with a grunt. "My own ninjutsu. Edo-Tensei."

The first suddenly snapped his attention over to his younger brother. "You went through with that disgusting technique?" The anger was apparent and quickly displaced the calm he had regarded Jiraiya with. If the Nidaime was worried it didn't show as he casually turned his eyes to the look at his brother.

"I made it to protect the village." The man defended with indifference. "It was supposed to be a kinjutsu that was to be used as a last resort. If the village was to be destroyed by an enemy force I intended for the user to bring in a measure of help."

"A good load that's done. Were about to be used _against_ the village now." He shook his head "It's a vile creation brother."

"Enough of this squabbling!" All eyes and heads turned to the snake sannin. His pale face was pulled back in a snarl and his yellow eyes were slitted like the snakes he sought to emulate. The first Hokage shook his head ruefully.

"You're a rude one." The wood element master remarked with a smirk. "I know little Saru didn't teach you to act like that. He himself was never one for such harsh words."

The snake summoner blinked at the words before he scowled. Jiraiya watched as he raised two kunai with tags attached to the ring before he slowly _inserted_ them _in to_ the legendary leaf leaders. The two men slumped forward before their body suddenly seized up to full height. There were no more words from the two and the complete lack of emotion on their faces told him what he needed to know.

Orochimaru had turned the previous Hokage in_ to simple puppets._

The rage somehow _tripled_ and Jiraiya felt his hand raising against his will despite the looming threat of death the barrier before him posed.

"Jiraiya." Came the barking voice of his old sensei that stopped his fist cold, saving his hand. The man blinked before his eyes darted over to the old man. The Hokage was calmly standing across from his own two teachers with arms crossed, not even looking in his direction. "Get rid of the rest of the snake summons in the village and then set out to find the sand jinchuuriki."

They were orders. He hadn't had real orders in such a long time.

The man's brow ruffled. "Sensei? I came here to bring down this barrier." If he could. He would need time to study it before finding the right counter measures. Time they really didn't have. Something the Sandaime knew.

"I'll deal with it after I remove Orochimaru's head." The words were said so forcefully that Jiraiya had a hard time remembering when his sensei had spoken in such a way about a prospective opponent. It was clear now what he thought of Orochimaru.

There would be no mercy like last time.

The snake sannin seemed undaunted by the words. His now infamous and slimy smirk slid across his face as his equally disgusting chuckle rang out through the air like a bird song on a clear spring morning.

"You seem so confident Sarutobi-sensei." There was a mocking hint to his voice that made Jiraiya's upper lip curl. "You can still count right? Or have you gone so senile that you can't recognize that your outnumbered three to one."

The third fire shadow sneered back in return. "You mean two to one. I don't recognize you as a _real threat child_."

The words succeeded in getting under the pale man's skin. His yellow eyes went wide before he hissed threateningly. Jiraiya snorted at the lack of self control the man had (completely ignoring his own slip up second before). A few words from the old man had always been more than enough to bait Orochimaru.

"We'll see what you think about that soon old fool!" The snarl was the only warning the old Hokage received before his two former teachers sprang in to action. The old man was half way through a set of seals before that and bent down to slam his palms up on to the roof top.

Jiraiya watched as the makeshift battleground they were on changed within a matter of seconds before he turned his head away and leapt clear of the roof top. Despite the confidence the old leader had spoken with Jiraiya could see the doubt in his eyes.

This was most likely to be the last battle of Sarutobi Hiruzen.

_Good bye sensei_. He thought as he dropped down in to the village below and made for he nearest snake wrecking havoc. The least he could do would be to follow the old man's last orders. But if Orochimaru was still alive by the time he came back...

There would be no god powerful enough to stop him.

* * *

Blue eyes blinked as they stared down at the blade that had nearly bisected him in half. The rattling of wood from behind him reached his ears as the puppet that had ran through him stepped closer to push the blade in further.

The sand gennin lifted his head up to look down the length of his body at the blond. A fierce grin stretched out complete with blood covered teeth. The triump in his eyes was evident.

"You were saying garbage?" There was a note of insanity in his gaze that made the blond wonder if it had come from the parents. "I couldn't quite here you the last time."

The blue eyes rose up to meet his.

"I said." The blond began to rattle around the weapon. "That this was completely-"

"_Too easy_." The whisper slid forward in to his ear like a snake dragging it's belly across the ground. The sand gennin barely had a time for his eyes to widen in shock before cords of ninja wire wrapped around his throat.

His hands snapped up and his puppet fell from the branch as the clone it had been embedded in disappeared. Naruto, from his place standing on the underside of the branch, leaned back and pulled harder on the wire wrapped around his gloved hands. The Kazekage's son coughed as the sharp thread cut deeper in to his wind pipe. His vision blurred and his chest heaved as he clawed at the wire strangling him. Kicking feet sought to give him leverage but could never get a good hold.

And than just like that it was over, the pressure suddenly disappeared and the boy gulped a wide breath. He managed to blink one time before his vision was suddenly filled with a fist that the blond slammed in to his face once, twice, three times before a crack signalled a broken nose.

Naruto stood quickly and glanced around before rubbing the middle area of his chest where the phantom pains of the blade remained. It had taken more chakra than he'd liked to use in order to create a clone that was able to hold out as long as it did but he had no choice in the matter. He had to credit the sound gennin for carefully hiding the puppet in the trees above them. With no way to tell where it was the blond had been forced to bait it out with a decoy.

It still hurt like hell and the blond reared back before dropping a foot in to the older boy's stomach.

"Your lucky you're the son of a kage." Naruto said with a deep glare. "Or else I'd slam a kunai in to your fucking skull."

The sand gennin did nothing more than cough a splat of blood that dribbled out from his lips. Naruto looked down at the beaten gennin before he shook his head at the pathetic sight. This bastard was too vicious for his own good.

"Now I'd usually do something like follow up on anything you know." The blond gennin began. "But I'm sure your just a little punk who couldn't keep up. Which means the others have gone ahead and your siblings left you behind. Which also means you're not important enough to keep track of."

He reached down and grabbed the coughing boy's chin before he yanked it straight and forced their gazes to meet.

"Run away bitch." A sudden fury taking root. "Run away like the coward you are. Run like the little bastard who left his brother all alone because he was too scared of him to try and be a proper brother. And when you get back to your shit hole of a village tell everyone there that despite all the surprise attacks and sneak tactics you and your merry band of fuck ups still got your asses handed to you."

And than the blond was gone, leaping forward in to the trees in the direction the markings had continued on. Leaving behind another broken body in his wake. The day had been long and his body had been tired but he could tell it was all coming to an end. After this nothing would stop him from getting a much-needed rest.

* * *

With gritted teeth Nara Shikamaru dropped to one knee as he tried, in vain, to hold his shadow possession technique. The half-human half-_thing_ that was once the sand's prized gennin roared with primal aggression as it pulled against the constricting effects of the ninjutsu. Exhausted and nearly out of breath the Nara clan heir turned his attention to his only back up in the area.

The Uchiha clan prodigy he had been sent to help aid was the only one of them well versed in combat, and he was already on his last legs. The dark haired boy was leaning his back against a tree trunk as he panted deeply with closed eyes in an attempt to try and catch his breath. Beside him his green-eyed teammate looked on in worry as she tried to help him remaining standing by resting a hand on his shoulder.

Across from them was the only gennin not of their graduation group who had been sent on this assignment. The brown-haired girl had too run out of steam long ago and was now resting one knee the same as he was. In either hand she gripped a dual sided kunai with an elongated handle as she warily eyed their collective adversary with wild but determined eyes. All in all, the situation wasn't looking to good.

And in one moment it all got worse.

He received no real warning before a wave of _vile and dark _chakra rolled over the collective area, freezing all the leaf gennin in their tracks. In an instant the Nara heir felt his control of the enemies body melt away before the monster turned it's half-sand head to him and flashed forward. The usually lazy boy was moving long before he knew what was happening.

He leapt out of his tree and on to the next as the monster came barreling in to the space he had just been occupying. Not bother to look back the gennin landed with a thud on another nearby branch before he sprang away towards another tree. A heavy boom from behind him told him that the monster gennin was indeed giving chase and the boy felt pure terror of the likes of which he had never even known rush in to his veins.

Movement out the corner of his eyes caught his attention and the boy had dropped down on to another branch below just in time to avoid a hail storm of metal stars. A growl of frustration and a series of hollow impacts told the boy genius that the weapon centric kuniochi's attack had hit home. But he knew that it would all be for not in the end. This monster seemed to simply shrug off their combined attacks like water that flowed off the surface of an umbrella. It needed no rest and didn't seem to have limits to its chakra. It was simply put an unstoppable beast.

And it was gunning for them.

_Wonderful_. The boy thought as he landed on another branch and finally chanced a glance behind him with a turn of his head.

It nearly cost him his life in turn and panic set in as he forced himself to fall forward on to his stomach as a wave of sand lashed out overhead like a whip with enough force to slice deep in to the trunk of the tree. The Nara boy was scrambling forward long before the follow up attack launched after him in the form of a five projectiles that crushed the large tree limb under their collective force.

When he didn't immediately hear his attacker behind him the boy landed on nearby branch and gave another look back to see a sight that nearly stopped his heart cold. The older leaf gennin was suspended in the air in a half-formed cocoon of sand. The tilt of her head and the lack of a struggled to the Nara genius that she was long since unconscious. Otherwise known as dead in the water.

He couldn't help himself, the boy's shout drew the monster gennin's attention away from its prey and back to him. It grinned viciously at the quickly approaching boy before it pulled back and tossed the unconscious girl at him as if she were a baseball. The Nara heir was caught mid jump when she slammed in to him with enough force that he was propelled backward. The two gennin slammed in to the trunk of a tree and began to slide down as he struggled to stay conscious for both of their sakes.

It wouldn't matter at this point any way, the monster had already halved the distance between them and was still coming. The two gennin dropped on to a branch further down the tree and the Nara boy could only watch as the beast landed on a branch above them before it swinged down to the underside and launched down to meet them like a rocket.

Despite its speed the monster seemed to move in slow motion as it descended upon them and the Nara boy could only watch helplessly as his boy refused to move from its position trapped under the older girl. This was it, this was his end.

_Well,_ At least it's been a good ride. The boy thought as his eyes involuntarily closed to shield him from the sight. It was only a matter of time now before the insane murderer ended his life. Of that the boy was sure.

Only he never got the chance to.

Instead the boy only felt the whispers of a gust slide across his face before a raging torrent of wind slammed in to the monster mid fall. Caught mid-air and with no place to set its feet the changed Suna gennin could only yelp in surprise as the obviously chakra aided winds ripped it off its trajectory and tossed it away in to the surrounding forest.

As the ninjutsu died down the Nara boy slowly slid one eye open in an effort to find his foe, only for his eyes to snap only fully as a voice reached his ears from somewhere to his left.

"You can get up now." It said tinged with annoyance. "The big bad demon is gone."

The Nara boy chuckled as his head weakly lolled towards the direction in order to look at his savior. Only one person in the world could make such a desperate situation seem so silly in only a few words. Despite his predicament a smile fell in to place.

"Good to see you too Naruto."


End file.
